Delaqroux Inc.

Preparing students for which real world?

2012-01-27T19:36:00.001+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates
This blog entry is in regards of my colleague's interesting status update on Facebook that i came across which questioned whether if the Malaysian curriculum preparing students for the real world? And if yes, which real world?

I was particularly intrigued by the question "which real world?" It was not further elaborated in that status update but from what i understand (and my familiarity of my colleague), this question is focusing on how much are we preparing our students to think from a global perspective and to deal with the REAL real world? And based on my observation on the curriculum and the syllabus, am i wrong to think that it seemed as if we're preparing Malaysian students to be good Malaysian citizens (which I'm not denying how important this is), but not as a member of the global community? This doubt of mine came about when i realized there's not much content in the textbook that touches on global issues, world histories and.. worldly stuffs. I'll get to that in a second.

Yes, i know it's the responsibility of the teacher to bring such matters into classes on their own initiatives and i really respect the teachers who did. But in regards to our teaching material, - let's focus on the textbook for this matter - are the contents enough to have ALL teachers thinking "i should have my students thinking about 9/11 incident, or oppression of a culture or a community to develop critical views of real world problems"? To put this in a view, I seemed to realize that we are teaching our students more on writing complaint letters about the lack of trash cans in a local park. Dont get me wrong. Writing complaint letters is quite "real world" but if we provide the context of students writing to be as littlest as lack of rubbish bins, what of other "real world" issues like; debating a stand, make a politically correct statement or changing the opinion of the masses?

Before you ask "dont you think it's a little too early to be teaching kids about terrorism?", well, i question myself that alot as well. But my answer to that question lies with a google search of "ESL lesson plan ideas for high school teaching". A grade 9 lesson plan requires the students to prepare a presentation based on their research of a cultural history and common misconceptions of that culture. Another lesson plan had students preparing an informational essay on historic events that changed the world and based on the essay rubric, they are to explain more of the incident, talk about how the event changed the world, and what they think of the event and how THE WORLD should learn from it based on their own opinion. Yes, these two lesson plans sound like university grade essay writing task but based on the sample of students' work; while they are not as in-depth as a university student's work should be, they showed much thoughts being put in. For the first LP, a group of students wrote on Muslim community and the misconception of Muslims being all Arabs and violent. The second LP had a student writing about Hiroshima bombing and how it stopped the WWII even if it's such "a 'terrorist' thing to do". If those students can think about all that, why do we think our Malaysian students arent capable of that?

In all, I personally see the English language as a medium for students to connect with the outside world and if we dont start debating on how much of social studies are we bringing in to the students, i honestly think our students will see English as a subject, not as a language, and a school as a place to get an exam cert not as a place to prepare them for the future.

And before i end this blogpost, here's a picture of my students that have nothing to do with the topic :D
Delaqroux Out

Sweet (Jeebus) Potato :D

2012-01-26T18:50:00.001+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates.

So i was in Jaya Jusco, Wangsa Maju the other day, shopping groceries (yeah, i do shop for groceries. that's how i roll). I was somewhere walking by the foodcourt when suddenly this one (Indian) voice came out loud screaming "SUDAH SIAP MASAK" <-- yeah, it's in capital letters. It was that loud. I noticed that i wasnt the only who heard that call but for some reason, everyone who heard the call had this carnivorous look in them. Their eyes seems to be saying "FINALLY, I'VE BEEN WAITING FO THAT SHIZ" <-- also in capital. the thoughts in their eyes were that obvious. And thus, a stall in front of the Jusco entrance was crowded instantly. Me, being curious, decided to join along the crowd

Apparently, it was this stall selling chestnuts and baked sweet potatoes. The potatoes were the one that was just came out of the oven and people were swarming over that, grabbing at least a kilo each (like, seriously, wtf?). So i was like, seriously, wtf and bought a 100g of them sweet potatoes when the crowd cleared away just to try a bite. I mean, seriously, what was all the hype about right? Oh, and btw, i noticed the Indian guy selling the sweet potatoes asked me "just a 100g?". Pfft.. well, yeah, how good can baked sweet potatoes be that i would by a kilo for myself.

But first, let me get this out of the way. I like fried/baked potato wedges. i mean, i can never get enough of that stuff. KL's mashed potatoes - i worship his recipe and i cant get enough of that too. Sydney baked corn by The Rocks Market, that was quite a bomb.

And, to our matter at hand now - baked japanese sweet potatoes; IT WAS THE BEST OF BOTH WORLD! Both all soft mash-y and sweet in the flest inside but hard enough on the outside it was baked! I mean, i dont usually like mashed potatoes coz it's too soft that you have to eat them with a spoon. Baked corn? Yeah, you can hold them upright and it's all crunchy but i rather have something sweet and soft (okay, i'm not being complacent here. i just wanna get my point across) But baked sweet potatoes, it's both baked and soft! And on top it all, it's sweet! It's genius! I mean, seriously, my first bite and i was all "WHHHAAADEEFAAAKKK???!!!" <-- SERIOUSLY, IN CAP LETTERS COZ IT'S THAT AWESOME! I mean, who would have phunked?

And if you think i'm exaggerating, just google up "baked japanese sweet potato" on the net and read up all those opinions on people who've tried eating them. If you think i'm exaggerating, then i supposed it's a flash mob out there of people spazzing out on their dose of sweet potatoes.

In any case, how hard can baking sweet potatoes be right? With that in mind, i took shit in my own hands (....figuratively) and bought some raw sweet potatoes from Tesco yesterday. Yeah, imma bake em one of these days bitches. I'm hardcore like that. Maybe the next blogpost is going to be about that. Wait for it :D

Delaqroux Out.

Caput Draconis

2012-01-25T21:22:00.000+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates
Today, i realized that i was not able to log in to my twitter account. For some reason, i've been keying in all my possible passwords matched with all my email addresses whole morning (that was an exaggeration of course. My mornings are always spent with productive activities) - and still no log in! Probably it's because of the fact that, much like my blogger account, i rarely come back and post stuffs and thus, my account is probably closed down. Maybe twitter thought i am dead.

Anyways, somehow the word "Caput Draconis" came into my mind. Anyone have any idea what this is? It's been bugging me for the whole day. It's like one of those thing that came up in your thoughts but you cant remember where you got it and what does it mean.

Delaqroux Out.
p/s: okay, here's the truth; the reason why i'm making this short post is because i am getting paranoid that blogger might shut down my account as well if i'm not posting stuffs regularly. Oh well, you can call it a motivation to write too in a way...

Keluang Man Rises?

2012-01-14T00:24:00.003+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates
I've just watched the recent trailer on Dark Knight Rises and some parts of the trailer somehow reminded me of something that i (day)dreamed of as a kid, that is; to take ownership rights of Keluang Man and make my own storyline take of the animation series.

Yep, Keluang Man. Ring any bells?

Keluang Man is a Malaysian comedy caped-crusader hero based on the animal "Fruit Bat" (Keluang) with appearance closely resemble the ever popular hero Batman. Keluang Man, however, goes around with the attitude of Spiderman/Deadpool - highly comedic and almost ultimately memorable by his verbally annoying remarks towards his enemies. The show was aired from 1997 to 1999, where the series stopped due to its drop of popularity - in which was suggested in Wikipedia that the popularity drop could have been caused by the producers take to make a more morally preachy Keluang Man rather than a hillarious one... @#$% you, morality.

Keluang Man was neither a billionaire or a friendly neighbourhood. He's just purely made of 100% pure annoyance, even throwing racist remarks to people around him. But why is that fine on Malaysian television? Well, Keluang Man, or his real identity, Burhan (yeah, what the fuck), is a fictional OKU (wait, how does that make it okay to be racist on national tv again?). He's a patient in Tanjung Rambutan Mental Hospital who is suffering from... well, some brain damage considering he's so annoying. But Burhan somehow possess this atheletic skill and the habit of escaping Tanjung Rambutan at nightime to look for trouble. His career as Keluang Man begins when Burhan accidentally stumbled on the corpse of the previous Keluang Man (which was only explained to have been shot by a villain but never explained of his real identity) and putting on the costume, he resumes the heroic journey as Keluang Man. Whether or not if he really knows what he is doing but with the Keluang Man identity 'revived'; Burhan caught the attention of all villains around Malaysia who thought that Keluang Man was supposed to be successfully murdered.

The latter episodes of Keluang Man had Burhan's fighting and athletic capabilities explained, alongside his real identity. While the show is ultimately lame on today's perspective (considering there's way more cooler foreign superheroes out there) i personally find Keluang Man's a good attempt to start Malaysian own iconic super-hero league. And why Keluang Man is a better icon IMO than the now-popular Cicak Man? It's because of the take of the story. I consider Cicak Man's storyline to be way more cliche. Keluang Man's storyline has so much potential that the producers should have hired me as their storyline advisor and make it gazillion way more epic - this is where my imagination as a kid came in.

Donning on Keluang Man's costume, Burhan faced villains he never really heard of and villains of Burhan's own past. This is where i think the show could have been made way more interesting (and probably for more mature audience). Burhan could have been made to start using the Keluang Man identity to his own advantage and often forgetting the fact that he is taking the role of a late super-hero, not as a vengeful new one. The show can have audience to question the line between being the public's view of an iconic hero or an undercover villain. The audience can take sympathy of Burhan who, while mentally deranged, cannot figure out this line to a point that he comes close to becoming a villain himself - probably by a scene when he killed a public figure who was actually someone evil or corrupted, and related to his own past. Burhan's brain damage could have been caused by a traumatic experience to which he may often lose control of his heroism as Keluang Man due to his long-contained desire to sought for revenge; all this while masked by his comical personality. At the same time, the directors can have so much twists in the show based on Burhan's decision on his surrounding conflict, that the audience would think that, despite Burhan's mentally-ill identity, he's actually way more sane as compared to how mad the modern society is in perceiving things around them. In all, Keluang Man, with its pre-established premise, had the potential to be both a superhero and a philosophical show at the same time, as opposed to standard hero vs villain storyline.

Anyways, those are just the idea i had when i was... about seven years old? (damn, should have picked a different line of work. sigh). How did the trailer of Dark Knight Rises reminded me of my old ideas when i was a kid? Well, i wanted to have my (alternate) Keluang Man's 'trailer' to start with the national anthem that ends with alot of all-hope-is-lost footages. So there. Lol. Anyways, maybe there will be one day when i'm a millionaire that i can purchase ownership rights of Keluang Man and make my take of the animation a reality.

Til then, here's a sketch that i did on the 'new' Keluang Man. Was doing this in a moving vehicle awhile back and i didnt have any eraser with me. so sorry for the terrible drawing

I drew the mask to be slightly pointier
as the Keluang is more in the family of
foxes rather than bats
(according to some source).
Also tweaked the logo to be sharper because
I hated the original dumb looking face. lol

I prefer the other sketch as this started out
just as a joke. That was when i get to the
head part and got really immersed into
starting to draw the tones and the
cape more seriously. But because of
this, I think the body is
slightly off proportions. oh well.

Happy 2012 :D

2012-01-09T13:28:00.000+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates!

Apparently, it seems like each post of mine these days been starting with me saying stuffs like "gosh, i havent been blogging for awhile" or "damn, it feels good to be saying that again". But yeah, it has been awhile (Almost six months to be exact). Yep, alot of things have happened but i'm too lazy to be doing recaps so yeah, let's get on with what i'm doing now... as if the world cares. lol

Aaaaanyways, i have finished my studies in IPBA (or IPG KBA) and thus - this might not come as anything new to my colleagues or anyone who knows me - i am jobless. No, it's not that i am looking for a job now. I am just in the state of inner peace and patient-most, waiting for the posting notice. And seriously, this posting notice better come soon coz i think i have been terrorizing strangers in Selayang Mall a little too much.

Yeah, when you're stuck in Selayang, Selayang Mall is pretty much the only place you can be (No, we do have pretty good malls around but Selayang Mall is the closest). And when you're at home after a few days and have only been talking to your family day in, day out; the sight of any stranger, all the people that you dont know but can be talked to, excites you... not in a rapist way of being excited, mind you. So yeah, i've been talking around with people from the shop outlets, receptionist, pak guard, taxi drivers etc. and while most of these people (hopefully) reply to me positively that we did go in a good conversation for a few good minutes, some purely freaked out. I guess it's not the culture of Malaysians to be talking to strangers.

For a good reason, most Malaysian guys are creepy.

Putting that aside, I've found myself to have not enjoyed Selayang Mall as much as Tesco Extra outlets. Yeah, Extra. They're like normal Tesco-s but they have the whole building dedicated for their store along with a few more smaller outlets. Weird as it may be, but the sight of things on bargain prices and raw materials for cooking excites me, just as much as my non-rapist stranger encounter excitement. Maybe it's the fact that i'm revisiting the epic fun times i had when i was studying in Macquarie when a nearby Woolworth outlet was my domain. I own that place, bitches.

Okay, shift of topic. It is now 2012 and yeah, i've realized that i've been comparing my wait for the posting notice and the end of days to be much of the same thing. Both is just as uncertain but if it's possible, can i get a confirmation on both? I dont want to be stuck in this state of uncertainty limbo. If i'm not gonna get posted anytime soon, then let me know so i can do something else in my free time like travelling or getting laid. And if the world is ending anytime soon, then let me know so i can do something else in my free like travelling or getting laid. Alright, i am just kidding about the travelling and getting laid part - it doesnt have to be in that order.

Have a good day and an awesome 2012 people :D

Screenshot of my phone at the time of 2012 countdown :D

S.C.U.M

2011-05-05T19:14:00.001+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates!
Now all is right with the world at the moment and when all is too right, some people get bored. So, when people A asked people B, "boredomness sucks. let's start an art magazine" and people B replies, "fuck yeah! let's start an art magazine", people A and B collaborated and started an art magazine because people A got bored and people B said "fuck yeah". Now all is still right with the world, mind you. But from that moment on, the world had SCUM. That's right, representing planet Earth for the first time ever, we, the world, has SCUM of the earth.. and it's free.

So, yeah, SCUM is (probably -we like to play it modest) the first ever free-voiced, independent art and media online publication in Malaysia and we totally came up with that ourselves (both SCUM and the "free-voiced, independent art and media online publication in Malaysia" tagline thingy). So, because we came up with that ourselves, we decided that we're not gonna be like other magazines out there which was came up by other people. And this is good. For one, we want to keep it free. Other magazines will have price tags. Ours just come up with tags without prices. That, or no tags at all. Second, magazines out there kill trees and that is not good for the elephants and primates. So, our magazine will be purely online published. In other words, no trees cut down to make overrated paper and we also save the world's resources of metal because we are not using staplers for our magazine.

Third, and most importantly, because we're not making any sell-out profits from this publication at all, we do not have any paid professional publication body. And that is good too. Why? Well, that means that YOU are our publication body! SCUM will be largely based on readers' contributions of creative works and masterpieces. In other words, we get contributions from readers be it photographs, artworks, literature works (poems, short stories and shoutouts) and anything as long as it have a good vibe (meaning, nothing provoking hatred or whatever that is bad). We wont pay you for your work but we can promote your awesome. With your awesome in our publication, our SCUM will be as awesome.

Finally, our publication is approved by a man by the name Johnny O'Leary, or Larry for short. We're not too sure who he is but he did approved us. So we high-five-d and thought that he is nice and worth a mention.

Anyways, if you like the idea of what we're doing and thought this write-up is very likable, visit us on our facebook group page (http://www.facebook.com/SCUM.malaysia) and click the like button because that really represents how much you like us. Also, the facebook group page will be where we published our issues of magazines (you might need a flash player thingy in your computer but we positively think you might already have it). Additionally, contact us at scum.ipba@gmail.com (also serve as our dropbox if you feel like contributing anything to our issues). We look forward to hear from you and thanks for reading this Johnny O'Leary-approved message.

SCUM Delaqroux Out!

Wide awake at 2.48 (am)

2011-05-03T03:05:00.002+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates.
I is so wide awakes even though I is definitely shouldnt be.

Yeah, i will be having an exam paper tomorrow at 8.30 am and here i am, at 2.48, wide awake. The original idea was to finish my revision early so i can sleep early and wake up on time tomorrow. But i guess there is just something innate in me that still refuse to accept that concept. So here i am, wide awake with nothing to do and thus a rant on my blog, for some reason, seems to be quite a joyous, exciting activity to do.

But seriously, my mind is at a state of a perfect blank-ness that i dont have the slightest idea on what to rant. It's weird, really, considering that i can always find myself writing non-stop without realizing. Maybe it's the fact that my nose is still runny (cold. fuck) and i find that way too distracting to write a proper rant decently. Also, probably of the fact that i am hungry. Dinner was at 8pm, almost 6 hours past. I can never go back to sleep if i am in state of hunger. I hate being me.

Nevettheless, I shall go get something to eat. This is a pointless blogpost. Thank you for reading.
Oh and did i mention that this blogpost was made, once again, using my phone? Blogging with a small screen is not exactly practical. QWERTY keyboard helps to some extent but the limitation is still there. It's just not fast enough as a computer's keyboard..
Anyways, this is still a pointless blogpost.
Stop reading.
Delaqroux Out.

Moving out IPBArians?

2011-04-19T23:00:00.005+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates!

Without having this blogpost to be unecessarily long winded, let me begin with several basic things you need to know; I am pissed, IPBA is asking us to move out of the students accommodation, and i have a good idea to have us not succumbing to this immature, inconsiderate demand. Also, I am very pissed.

First of all, I regard this to be highly immature demand of the IPBA administration because, as much as they claim that they have put quite a lot of thought in it, i think this is a consequence to poor planning and failure to walk that talk they made so much noise of. The call for us to be moving out of the students' accomodation was made a few weeks ago in April. As we are to move out during our second semester, this leaves us only with two months to find for an accomodation outside. This is not only absurd but considering the fact that they expect us to be able to find a place that can only accommodate us for less than six month in Kuala Lumpur - that is stupid. To tell you the truth, the rumour of us having to find a place outside went around as early as last year. At that time, i regarded IPBA's accommodation as being quote shitty end quote (i'm staying in the living room atm.. duh!) that i wouldnt mind staying outside. But that was only when we still have two semesters in IPBA. It is possible to get a place for rent with a minimum contract of a year. But now that we are looking for a place to rent for less than six month, how is that possible for us?

Thinking that it was a good head-start to have some brief idea on where should we be renting, me and my practicum teammates did go for a small house-search around the KL area. Phone calls were made and house prices were surveyed only to find disappointing results. Places advertised for rent are either occupied or the price for renting is insanely high (homes in prime zone of KL, what do you expect?). I mean, if we are to move out of IPBA's accommodation, the only monthly financial advantage we have is just by RM80 a month. A place with three bedrooms costs so much that we figured that only by cramming more people than the house is meant for us was the only solution. Then again, if the house is so crammed, has it ever crossed any mind of IPBA administration that this might affect our studies? Especially we're on our practicum years where C5 IPBArians should have enough matters in their hands already. Also, when we tried to request for a block in IPBA where we, desperately, claimed that we dont mind cramming alot of people in a place as long as we dont have to move out, they responded that over-cramming might be psychologically dangerous (whatever fuck that means?) and might affect our well-being and studies. Huh... so it's alright to have us squatting in a house of 10 people outside? Oh, and if they expect us to find a place for one person or two person stay (like in Vista Angkasa for example), how can they be guarantee that it'd be safe for us? My sister used to live in Vista Angkasa before due to the reason that it's the only available and affordable accommodation around KL (she was studying in UM at that time). How did it turned out? Well, she moved out a few months after. The reason being; too many cases of house break-ins in the area, perverted, wolf-whistling mat rempits hanging about the place, she got pick-pocketed while waiting for the bus, and, ONCE AGAIN, she had to squat in a house of two rooms with six other housemates and she think life was really, really fucked. How is this ideal?

I would like to quote that statement made early in this year that says "asramaku rumahku" and i will like to highlight how ironic it is that we are being chased out of our own 'house' despite we did nothing wrong to break the students' accommodation act or commit any crime. The blame lies within the management that failed to reject new intakes of students despite being obviously clear that IPBA's students accomodation is reaching its accommodating limits. Regard this blogpost as a provocative heads-up to instill anger and fear if you will, because i believe this is exactly what we need to show to the management - of course, not to the extreme, barbaric level; but enough to know that we are standing firm with our rights. This demand of having us to move out on such a short notice, without considering our physical, emotional and financial well-being is a sign of immaturity and poor management skill - things that we are taught in IPBA to not succumb to as future teachers. For those who disagree with me, just regard this blogpost as an angry rantings of someone who has spent hours with his practicum teammates discussing, making phone calls, and searching for a house to rent outside, and wasted those hours, failing. Ignore this blogpost.

For those who think otherwise, are you still looking for a place to move out?

Delaqroux Out.

Trial post from X10

2011-03-18T10:18:00.001+08:00

Delaqroux inc updates!
Well... Sort of...

Just checking out whether if a blogpost from my phone using the android app Blogger-droid can appear properly on my actual blogpage. There's nothing to be said here so you might as well skip to the next post or something. But if you're still reading up til this point, I guess I owe you a thanks :)

Delaqroux out

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

His Rage

2011-03-06T23:10:00.001+08:00

Rainfall drip-drop,

Like drippy tip

Of a granite ceiling,

Echoes twice or thrice,

Every a second or two,

Sudden deafening, furious roar

Of tormented, disappointed

Soul in this chasm of solitude.

A blindingly lit stage,

A thunderous applause

Of anticipation and emancipation,

For the jester

In hope of light and merry

Cackling his way

Like the mockery,

The laughter in his head.

The quantum

Of no beginning nor end

Where the truth lies and the lies be true

Where the truth ends and the lies begin

The circle, perfected

The continuum

Of endless treachery and deceit

Hence, he felt

Rage.

Delaqroux Inc. 2011

-His Rage

(as submitted in Receipt Stories, 5th March, 2011)

How many more jumps?

2011-02-27T04:02:00.001+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates!
It's 3am and i am still playing around with my new adorable phone and also doing random stuffs on facebook and blogger. So another tranquil night, another self-reflection session. Why not, right?

I recall one time ago when i watched a motivational talk on TV and the speaker told the viewers a secret to happy living, which is simply; stay away from anything that hurts you (Gosh.. can a motivator get any more smug-y than that? I hate motivators). Also, there was this one dick.. i mean, motivator giving some motivational speech awhile ago during one of those insignificant personality development courses i attended which cited the infamous.. something theory. Cant remember what exactly is that theory but it's pretty much built on the foundation of "what may go wrong will go wrong". Again, basically, it's the same "stay away from things that can hurt you if you want a happy life".

That made me think; is there such thing as a pain-free happy life?

Yeah, some other dude said something about "no pain, no gain" right? So what's a little prick everynow and then before you really get to enjoy the good stuffs in life. But then again, i kept losing myself in real complicated situations that i'm starting to think that there is no happy life, there is no pain-free life, and there are simply too many inevitable things that will constantly hurt you. I'm not putting this in a very pessimistic perspective mind you. It's just that, in layman's language, i've been through a whole lot of crappy stuff that i'm actually believing that there's no such thing as a pain-free way or a happy way out. It's just life. Short, sophisticated and shitty. It's like you're getting to the top floor of a building, you give up half way, you climb out the window and you jump down, only to find yourself still alive once you hit the ground, having to restart all over. There's no pain free way and there's no quick exits either. It's just a whole long shitty climb up and a stretch of endurance test.

Speaking of falling flat and still not dying, i have found myself doing things that will hurt myself plenty of times in my life. I made choices that seem promising, only to find out there's none of that sort. Afterwards, i found myself terribly hurt, i gave up, i tried to 'kill myself'. The result to that is just me falling flat on the ground again, still alive, and having to start all over again. Finally, i made another near-similar choice of self pain infliction once again and the cycle recontinues. I dunno. Sometimes, i think this pain i'm having might actually take me to a better place where nobody else ever manage to reach. Sometimes, i think i'm just a stupid risk taker that's going no where. At other times, i think it's not that the bad choices i made that it's causing me the pain, it's the whole word that's effing up with me. Hell, the choice might not even be a bad one in the first place at all.

Til then, this is just me randomly rambling about part of my life which is significant yet them details mustnt be told to anyone that i have to type in an all emo metaphorical language. wtf.
Delaqroux Out.

IPBA's Weak Epidemic Control Policy

2011-02-24T15:11:00.000+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates.
I just realized (that was a lie, i didnt just realized. i realized this so long ago) that my college and its lecturers are quite extreme in the policy of perfect class attendance. If you are sick, you should report to the HEP, fill up a couple of forms, pass the forms to the lecturers of the classes you'll be missing, and send a copy to your mentor, all alongside an MC letter. Even when you do that, you cant be excused to rest in your dorm, you'll have to be in HEP's sickbay until lecture hours is over. Due to this tediousness, many resort to either screw the whole form filling bullshit and just stay at home, or attend class anyway. I was the latter today and i find how disturbingly disturbing that IPBA put so much emphasis on trainee's attendance while setting aside epidemic control. Oh, and at times, the lecturers do provide an exception for those who really are sick to skip/postpone the form filling and stuffs. But only to the extent of a really 'sick' sickness. Common colds or cough is not accepted.

"Disturbingly disturbing" is a synonym of "stupidly stupid" by the way.

So yes, i find this really stupid coz for one main reason, sick people, even those with common cold, can be contagious. Recently, a whole lot of students from my cohort have been sick - one after another. One person will attend class, sneezing and coughing all the way, and when that person is recovering, another person fall sick. there has never been a perfectly healthy attendance. Cant the lecturers see a pattern there? It's so obvious that we are infecting one another!

The HEP may argue that this is the reason why they have sickbays for sick students. I would say that the idea is basically to quarantine sick students from infecting one another and that is a good effort to stop the spreading of virus. But seriously, how disease proof enough are the sickbays? For all i know, i might just end up infecting the whole HEP staffs and (while i dont really mind doing that), we're back to square one. In other words, contagious students should be quarantined away from everyone else - not other students but also college staffs, and lecturers. Also getting into the sickbay is another problem. With all the form filling and the form handing out, nothing there suggest that i havent able to spread my viruses all over the college by the time i'm done. I cover my hand when i sneeze, i didnt sanitize my hand before filling in the form and i hand over the form to the lecturers. There you go. And finally, which is possibly the strongest argument of all, who would want to be quarantined in the HEP? For all i care, even when i'm healthy, i'll try my best to avoid that place. Now that i'm sick, i should stay in that place? Judgemental eyes of the staffs for the sick soul? No thank you.

Of course, i'm not trying to freak anyone here nor am i bad-mouthing the college but i really see nothing wrong with staying in the dorm when i'm unwell. Other students are in class so there's basically no one to infect. Filling up forms and all those formalities are good efforts to make sure student dont skip classes intentionally with the excuse of a fake sickness. But seriously, how far does that go in stopping students from faking their sickness. Also, MCs are not given for common colds or cough in clinics so forms that has to be included with an MC letter cannot be filled. And if my illness is that serious, i might not even be able to make it to the sickbay nor the clinic for the MC. My choice is to either stay in the dorm (which is illegal) or just attend the class anyway (not a smart choice but at least that's better than running around getting to clinic for MCs, having to fill in and pass up forms and infecting the whole world in the process) So, seriously, what should we do if we fall sick in IPBA?Non of IPBA's epidemic control system make any sense. Isnt it time someone retake a look at all these bullcrap?

So, til then. This is me, sneezing my lungs out in a lecture hall with approximately 125 other students, bidding you for a healthy life ahead.
Delaqroux Out.

Of Beggars and Preachers

2011-02-02T01:54:00.001+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates

While i was typing the blogpost title above, something struck me. Should i use capital for the nouns in my blogpost title? Did i ever use capital for nouns in my blogpost title before? Hmmm... Anyways, back to the topic.

Just a few hours ago, i was having my dinner when an old guy dropped by my table and he started asking for donations. As usual, they're those unfortunate people who are not exactly as wealthy in supporting their own expense and they drop in restaurants to restaurants, table by table, asking for you to be generous. (Yes, i'm avoiding the use of the word Beggar here coz i think it sounds a lil too harsh.) Of course, there's always the people who drop by your table, selling some stuff that, apparently, are of no use to you. And then, there are those people who uses elements of sympathy or whatever to get you to be generous. Now, as useless as the items offered by the former, i dont really mind them. At least, they're using some effort to get the money they need. Heck, sometimes, i dont mind buying those stuffs they offered coz they're pretty useful... *hides shiny LED bouncing ball and wooden key-chain the shape of a heart* ..like a packet of tissue papers.

But, what really grinds my gears (Family Guy reference.. wtf) is the latter who... how should i put it delicately... friggin cheats to get your money from you. Now here's what happened; the old guy who dropped by my table was wearing jubah and turban, carrying a recycable bag and a walking stick. He didnt really held out his hand and ask for donations. Instead, he gave me a greet. Acceptable. But what he did next was TOTALLY not acceptable. He started preaching about God and doing goodness and stuffs. I wasnt able to really hear him as the place was a lil noisy though. However, I manage to hear him uttering how i should start doing goodness because God knows when i will die. Okay. Then he started pointing upwards and start uttering some arabic phrases (probably from Quran i guess) and said something about, God knows what i do and didnt do and more stuffs. Also, he said something about he is a humble servant of God and his arrival might be God's reminder for me to do good things. All while closing his eyes, talking in smug tone, and pointing occasionaly skywards. So, yeah, why is that unacceptable? Read on.

Due to the fact that i couldnt really hear him with all the noise in the restaurant, i was freaked out for a moment. What exactly is this old man talking about? Is he asking for donations or he's just dropping by to preach something and only that? Should i take out my wallet and give him something, or should i continue listening? (Note that i didnt opt to ignore him entirely. That's something). So, being in such state of confusion, i took out my wallet. Then i thought, "wait, why am i taking out my wallet? Is he hypnotizing me or something?". Then, i just decided to just take out my cash. If he is just using all those talks to just get me to give him some cash, then he should be giving me some attention by now. If he's generously preaching, then i suppose he would reject the cash. Surprisingly, he did not held out his hand to take the cash or pay any attention to it, but continues talking. That was when i thought it's a nice change to have people who are actually devoted to God to shamelessly preach reminders on people without any hidden agendas. Perhaps, we do need some reminder every now and then.

My next move however, proved everything wrong. Yes, we do need reminders every now and then. That in some people, God is just another tool to get what you want. Pessimistic as that sounds but this old guy who has been preaching for the last 8 minutes is just that, someone who claims God wants you to give him cash. What. the. fuck.

My next move was asking him "Pakcik kutip derma ke?" (my question might have not exactly be like that but it's exactly the same gist). Apparently, people, there's a distinct difference between derma and sedekah. Derma is when you collect money for someone or a charity organization. Sedekah is when you give the money to the person needing it in front of you at no catch. If the guy is collecting derma, then he will say yes. Maybe he's been preaching on behalf of some mosque that is really in need of funding. If the guy is a con, he will also say yes. However, IF the guy's a real preacher, he will say no. This guy said..... *drumroll* no. In fact, this was his answer (something like this); "WTF man! No, i'm not collecting derma, i'm in need of sedekah! Werent you listening to what i said?" Yes, aside the "WTF man!", everything else is exactly what he said. I tried to explain myself but he cut me off and started preaching more things about doubting a person who's in need. And he said something like, he's looking for a sincere giver, if i'm doubting him then my gift for him is not sincere, thus, God shall not be amused. He said that whether if he's lying or not, that's his issue with God. the question now is whether am i sincere with what i'm giving him or not? Well, friggin obviously i'm not.

Finally, after assuring him that i am 'fucking sincere', i gave him the cash, he thanked me and went off to the next table and started preaching again. Yeah, so that's how the story ended. There were times when people asked me for donations and i wondered if that person is really using the money for any good later on. This time around, i dont care if he's using the money for good or not, i just want him to get struck by lightning right there, right now. What he did was basically using God's name to get him the money. Maybe he is using the money for a prayer mat or a new Quran but i dont think that money would ever be halal. It is a form of sedekah, i know, but using God's name for that? I dont recall God saying anything about quoting any holy scripture to get money so you can do good with it, nor preach about him to get yourself some money. Have God ever told me to give people money sincerely and generously? Yes. Have God ever told people to ask for money in His name?

Okay, i'm not being a religious smug here but what he did really ticked me off. If you disagree with my point up there and you believe that it's alright to bring God along when you're asking for donations, then i believe you have to agree with the next old lady who came to me afterwards, bringing in a small little girl with her and letting the girl ask people for donations. Both the old guy and the old lady did the same thing. I believe both is just as wrong.

Delaqroux Out.

Dorm Alone

2011-02-01T15:44:00.001+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates.
ALot of people have been wondering on what am i doing staying in IPBA at the moment while everyone else has gone back. So what better way to answer that question but to have a blogpost. Sha-ZAM!

Basically, nothing. Yeah, i'm not really doing anything. But mind you; i'm not wasting my time. I do recall the quote somewhere about the "joy of doing nothing" (or was that the title of a book?) and seriously, i'm not doing anything. Just lepaking and enjoying every moment of it. Some may ask, why not just do nothing at home then? Yes, I can choose not to do anything at home where doing nothing will be more convenient; I dont have to worry about food, money or doing laundry. But doing nothing here does not refer to bumming (a verb for people who are absolute bums). In fact, i rather take charge of my own do nothing-s. I choose to do my laundry when the weather seems nice and hot. I choose what food to eat and when i am to eat. I choose how much money i would spend in a day and what should i spend them for. After all, i'm not in a rich brat's spa. I'm on holiday.

But of course, i'm not litterally doing nothing. I'm currently working on my assignments (though i have to say, only 5% of my time is spent on that), enjoying the whole-day rain last Sunday, doing some random walking around and food hunting (I've discovered The Sphere in Bangsar South yesterday - nothing much to do there but at least there's a walking distance Carrefour and some dine-out places), and Oldtown White Coffee's.. well... White Coffee. Can life get any better? Of course it can. I've been sleeping at 2am and waking up at 10am on average days (something i really missed doing). I've been playing Minecraft and DotA when i'm bored. And i let the music i love playing all day long and I found a place that sells nasi tomato. Also, i'm working on a project of drawing my own comic. Had the storyline ready so all i have to do now is to draw. Wish me luck. And another also, I've came up with a storyline for a theatrical play about teachers. Probably that would be useful some time later.

Oh, and a quick shout out goes to Eliza Doolittle, She & Him, Maroon 5 and the great Nujabes (RIP. Whether if you turn up in heaven or hell, i'm sure they would welcome your company and your good music =) who has been generous enough to sponsor my dorm alone moment with their music. Yep, for people reading this blogpost, do check out Eliza Doolittle's "Skinny Genes", "Moneybox" and "Pack Up", She & Him's Volume 1 album, Maroon 5's "Misery" and every single track produced by Nujabes.

Til then, excuse me while i hit this golf ball from the wing of an F-14 parked on a US NAVY aircraft carrier vessel (I AM LEGEND reference if you're that clueless)
Delaqroux Out.

Sydney rain on a Sunday

2011-01-30T14:24:00.001+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates
I often start my blogpost trying to explain the absence of posts made due to some inevitable business or laziness issue. Thus, i shall skip that explanation this time around. Regardless, today's excuse will be; lack of internet connection in IPG KBA and that sucks balls. That aside, it's a rainy sunday morning-afternoon today (probably til nightime as well. I'll confirm that later)

Anyways, if there is one notable difference between Sydney rain and KL rain, it would be the consistency. Sydney rains koalas and eucalyptus while KL significantly rains stray cats and dogs. If that make no sense, well, let's say Sydney's rain goes down slowly - pouring or drizzling to be exact. The rain is in tiny little drops and it may last a couple of minutes to a couple of days. So, a rainy day in Sydney is pretty much a laidback day to hibernate or enjoy a cup of coffee. KL rain, on the other hand, sound pretty much like hailstorm (without the hails) and you can hear it coming miles away from the thunders. You'll see people running for shelter in terror and kids hiding in corners, freaked by the thunderclaps. Okay, i'm exaggarating that point but yeah, it's pretty much like that. In a say, KL raindrops are big drops of water that goes down real fast, loud and hits you hard in the face - suitable for a classic western death scene in the rain - while Sydney's slow and trippy pour - like ones in a Bollywood mv clip.

But, rare case of the day, it is raining Sydney in KL at the moment. It has been raining since early this morning and yeah, everything today seems slow and smooth. Woke up to the sound and chilly air of the rain and the first thought i had was, "hey, sure rains like it's in Sydney today". So i had my cup of coffee, listen to She & Him's Volume 1 and pretty much stare out of the window the whole time. Lunch was a tiny bit of issue as i had to get to the restaurant down the street with no umbrella. So i put on the same jacket i wore on rainy days in Sydney and bolted down the road - just like old times. Oh, and more classic life in Sydney twist, i had a walk in the rain with her, sharing an umbrella she had with her which wasnt exactly hers, and had lunch with her under the pitter-patter sound of raindrops above the roof - again, just like old times. Everything about today reminded of my life in Sydney and while i'm dreadfully missing it, it's pretty cool that i'm reliving a moment of my life from almost a year back in KL. Not sure who i should be thanking of this wonderful day so yeah, thanks, God, you've done it again. lol

Anyways, here i am blogging on my balcony while watching the rainy weather outside =)
Delaqroux Out.

Doing + Tweeting

2010-12-31T17:39:00.002+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates.
For those who have me on their facebook friendlist or following my tweets, you might have seen that i make tweets/shoutouts a whole lot. And, as much as i make shoutouts, i follow people's updates and take them seriously too. However, one thing has been bugging me since awhile back and that's the tenses they are using in their shoutouts/tweets

For those who are going; "tenses?"; well, tenses are... (flips grammar book) verbs that shows an action done within a particular time frame... and shit. really? well, i'm not too sure if that's accurate enough but basically, tenses are those indicators of actions done in certain times. Present tense means i'm doing it now, Past tense means i've done it, Future tense means i will do it in the future. And Continuous tense means i am still doing it. There's other category of tenses but i'm not gonna go thru that. Yep, Dark Delaqroux, English teacher.. and that's my take on grammar...bitch!

AAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaanyways, i've been reading through people's shoutouts and i have realized that those shoutouts are made in different tenses. Some indicate a past action, some're planning for the future and some are.. well.. doing it now. The latter bugs me the most. How can they are doing something and tweeting about it at the same time? Take this one for example;

Now, i dont care about the fact that the guy is dressed Mexican style, free-falling and eating ice cream all at the same. For all i know, he might actually possess the capacity to do that. But tweeting about doing something while guy is doing it? I cant help but to wonder, is that possible? Yeah, i know it's a minor thing but i just cant help wondering if that is humanly possible to the extend where i will actually try doing it myself. Okay, so you may say that the example above might still be a possible case. And in another example;

Now that example right there, while in present continuous tense, is do-able. You can enjoy ice cream while tweeting. I've tried that and while i have slightly sticky phone keypad afterwards, tweeting while eating ice cream and waiting for fireworks is possible (of course, i'm not too sure about free-falling). But let's just say, you argue that it IS possible to tweet while free falling, let's get the ice cream and free falls out of the examples and see this one below;

Okay, now seriously, how is that possible? First, note that the shoutout was not made using facebook mobile (the app where you have facebook in your mobile phone) and one time, i figured, yeah, it's not really impossible to make out with a girl and hold a handphone on one hand and typing at the same time. But they are actually making out while the guy (who is totally not me.. no, seriously) is on his laptop. Well, technically, the girl should be on his lap's top while the pc is on the desk for that being possible. But the guy has to has a real good stealth keyboard to not make any sound if he is typing while making out. that, or ninja fingers. Also, it could have been the fact that the making out session is too loud that the girl couldnt hear him typing. THAT, or they both have a mutual agreement where the girl dont mind the guy making out while posting a shoutout... huh.

So, yeah, i really put up alot of thinking in this. God knows why. Now i studied linguistic and i do know the fact that the use of present continuous tense to describe a past event is acceptable. News headlines do that all the time. But, what bugs me is the fact that when they post those updates or tweets and using present tense, it just makes me wonder whether is it possible to do those things while tweeting? I mean, obviously, the last example guy was not making out while also on his computer. But what if he really is? How did he do that??

Til then, i'll still be wondering and making more blogposts.
Delaqroux Out.

(Tweets and status updates above are not taken from anyone, i snipped my own shoutout and photoshopped them with the pic and text. Also, none of the updates were real but they are based on real tweets and shoutouts i have seen before. If it's similar to any of yours, that's purely coincidental.. Go tweet yourself :p)

Main Minecraft

2010-12-29T02:38:00.001+08:00

Wtf.. now that's a rare case. Me posting a blogpost with a Malay blogpost title. Yeah, it's read as "ma-en" as in play in English, not "men" as in "main"... (Way to go Dark. Now go teach little kids vocabulary). Anyways, now that we're in the mood for Malay...

Delaqroux In...korperasi meng... uh....menaik tarikh...? (up..date?)... YEAH!!!

There was a time in past Dark's life when he loved playing with stackable blocks. He love building castles and fortresses with them and every time the structure is completed, he foresaw an army trying to take over the castle. Past Dark, while also the castle's designer, roleplays the castle's defender and, using the best of his design, he outsmarted the forecoming army. Of course, Dark won everytime, proving his supremacy over and over again to the dumbass army. Good times, we both, Present Dark and Past Dark, agree. But gone are those fun, innocent times. Til this one guy created MINECRAFT!!

No, not yourscraft.. minecraft.. (Sorry, just had to do that joke)

Minecraft is exactly a reminiscent of those simple playtimes. You play as a blockish guy in a world full of blocks and you, similar to playing with stackable blocks, tear down the blocks that shapes the world (which is called Mining) and restructure them (put them side by side or stack em up high) to form castles or houses or whatever you can think of. Also, to make your mining and building job easier, you need to craft better equipments and sometimes, better blocks to assist you (which is called Crafting). There's no storyline to Minecraft but rather you create your own. The game consist of nightime and daytime in which the world's creature (yeah, there's random spawning creatures) spawns from cows, sheeps, pigs and chickens during the day (You can kill them for food and more crafting materials) and not-so-pleasant baddies during the night. Now, the baddies, like the army i used to imagine, wants you dead. so the only way for you to survive the night is to build a smart, baddies-proof structure. Fun eh? No? Well, fuck you.

Anyways, while actually more of a survival game, Minecraft is a pretty relaxing experience once you're familiar with the day-night cycle (Mine and build during the day, hide and craft in your fortress by night). You dont need to kill those baddies for any reason. there's no scoring system or whatever. But as long as you're safely in your castle at night and can watch those baddies burst into flames as the next day's sun appears, it's just a satisfying feeling. Soon after, you find yourself enlargening your hiding place (from cave to a house, to hideout, to castle, to fortresses.. whatever you can think off) all at a relaxing pace. There's nothing telling you what you should design, there's no missions, no scoring and you can play with a mate in a total mine and build game. I played all by myself and i find myself building some underground sanctuary with tunnels and bunkers.

Will it appeal to you? Maybe yes, maybe not. The premise of mine and build without a storyline or a mission may sound dull to some. But hey, Minecraft has sold millions of copies and some game website has already regarded Minecraft to be one of the most innovative games in 2010. So why not take it for a spin. Til then, i'll see you again when my KLCC block tower is finished.

That's not my design up there but it's one example on what you can build with Minecraft. Wait til my KLCC is done... it will be way more awesome.

Delaqroux Out.

Ridiculously obscene songs that are fun

2010-12-28T11:28:00.003+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates.
Now i was feeling down for a couple of days now. And then i came across a friend's shoutout regarding how ridiculous some songs these days can be. It turned out that the song she was actually referring to was "I just had sex" by Lonely Island. Now, the shitty thing is that i heard that song a couple of weeks before and i was dying to get it out of my head (hey, the song is catchy) but considering how i need a cheer up; i put that song on my laptop again. Now, i've got the video below but if you're under 18, dont click on it.

Yeah it cheered me up alright :D LOL'd at "When i had the sex, my penis felt great"...

Yeah, the song is friggin ridiculously obscene for the most part but you know what? It's a good change from all those chart toppers out there at the moment which lyrics may sound like the sweetest ballad ever but in truth, we're just talking about the guy probably jacking off to the girl or wanting to bang the girl badly. If you dont believe me, try listening to "In My Head" by Jason Derulo but replace "Head" with "Bed" and it all will make sense. Oh, and "I wanna Love you" by Akon... Yeah, he just wanna love the girl. Really.

Anyways, the lyrics for "I just had Sex" is pretty much honest and that's what awesome about it. I guess that's what memorable about it. If you rather have songs where the singers are being honest, try checking out "Flight of the Conchords", Katy Perry's "Peacock" (Yeah, one time she was singing about Fireworks and the next song in the album is her singing about wanting to see "what you're hiding underneath"). Oh, and I kinda like how innocently honest (and not to mention, romantic) Bruno Mars sounds in "Just the way you are" but i dont agree with the video using a really hot girl to whom he's referring to. If the song is saying how he likes her the way she are (Timbaland referrence here. I know my English), why not just use a normal lady, right? Damn, i should start making videoclips for singers now. Okay, i'm getting off topic.

Anyways, last note. Here's the Peacock song if you havent heard it before. Enjoy. And kids, she really wants to go to a zoo and see a peacock but probably the zoo-keeper is hiding them somewhere underneath a... blanket or something. Oh and a side note; i heard the song being played while i was at a JayJay's outlet in Park St. I wonder if i'd ever hear that song again in Malaysia's retail shops?

Yeah... She really wants to see it.
Delaqroux Out.

Moving out.. shit-ness

2010-12-27T00:47:00.001+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates
I know this may sound really really sad but i dont have anyone to talk with at the moment so i turned to something all emo bloggers would turn to at the moment of emo-ness; their blogs. Yeah, this is about the designation of my hostel in my college and it sucks big time.

For one, there was a time when i realized that we're not allowed to choose our own housemates. That was still a lil okay as i thought, as long as they have us under one roof (it's an apartment so "under one roof" consist of quite aplenty of houses and rooms) it shouldnt really matter if we're just a stone throw away from one another. Then i found out that my name wasnt on the list of residence. It sucked a tad coz i was really nervous to found out where i will be staying at when most of my mates already have. But again, as long as we're all under one roof, it shouldnt really matter. Then finally, the list was updated and i was not even under the same roof. Shit-ness.

In fact, i'm designated in a room three blocks away with complete strangers as housemates and roomies. Now, i dont mind having strangers as roomies (had strangers for my housemates for almost a year in Sydney last time) but my conscience is telling me that i should not be living there. So, being as polite as i can, i requested a transfer to a more familiar sanctuary. Request denied. I'm stuck there. Now that sucked but what sucked harder is the fact that my gut cant stop telling me that, like George Lucas's movie scripts, "there's a bad feeling about this". I rather trust my gut after several experiences and yeah, what else is there left to do but to stay outside?

So yeah, that's the dilemma. If i'll be staying outside, will there still be more rooms for rent? 2011's just around the corner and rooms for rent are running out fast. Plus, all the ads about rooms for rent are only for Muslim girls, Muslim girls and Muslim girls (and they say guys are sexist.. pfft). Shit-ness. And all i want to do in my last year in IPBA is to study in an awesome environment where i'll feel (almost) at home, is that too much to ask?

Delaqroux Out.

Then what? (Review on Malaysian ads)

2010-12-26T13:21:00.001+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates.
So i was watching the tv when i realized the few patterns of ads in televisions. Among the common ones is the lame-guy-saw-hot-girl, guy-uses-X-product, guy-becomes-cool, and finally, guy-gets-hot-girl (of course, you can switch the gender the other way round too). The concept is a tad primitive in my opinion, but hey, it works to a great extend. If you think "nah, it wont work", let's just say, i bought Lynx deodorant. So, yeah, Lynx is an Australian (at least, i think it's Australian.. it might be an international product) men's perfume and deodorant brand or something and the product pride itself in the "men who uses Lynx gets girl" marketing concept it is using. But after watching both Malaysian ads and Australian ads, it got me thinking; what's next in the Malaysian ads?

I mean, the guy in the Australian Lynx ad started out unattractive and due to his fortunate application of Lynx beforehand, he can transform from lame to romantic, romantic to cool and at the end of the ad where he is invited for a cup of coffee (Yes, kids, it must have been coffee.. what else could a man and a woman do together in an apartment :p), the ad clearly indicate that the man... well... will get his coffee (the machine appeared and shaved his... well... downstairs). So yeah, the headline; men uses Lynx get laid (coffee).

Then, i came across an ad in Malaysia with an almost similar concept. The guy was driving, guy saw hot toll gate girl, he turns on his car deodorant, girl get impressed. Afterwards, the closing scene of the ad had the girl now in the guys car... Wait... THEN WHAT? I mean, the guy in the Lynx ad in Aussie had him getting coffee - a concept pretty much a taboo in Malaysia (Yes, kids, you dont give coffee to strangers in Malaysia), so what's next for the car deodorant guy who has got the hot toll gate girl in his car? Will they really get coffee and get to know each other? Then exhange phone numbers? Then meet each other's parents? Get married shortly after? And then finally the guy can now legally gets his coffee?

So, yeah, the main question that always got me thinking in such ads in Malaysia is "so the guy got the girl using an X product... then what?". If the product gets the girl to get in the guy's car. What other product do i need to make sure i... well... get the girl? I know, it's a sick thought but nah, it's just those random things i think of.
Let me know what you guys think.

Delaqroux Out.

Freaky two-year time lapse

2010-12-16T08:31:00.000+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates.
As i'm officially now in Malaysia once again, i cant help but to realize that a whole lot of things have changed drastically. I mean, of course i am not expecting that everything would stay the same for the last two years but the fact that you were gone for two years, which, in truth, doesnt really feel like that long of a time, and things changed, it's like you're in this freaky two year time lapse. Something like you're in coma - it dont feel that long but when you wake up, everything has changed.

In my family, my little sis has grown freakishly tall. Okay, not freakishly. But imagine in 2009 when i left, she was just about my waist height or something and now, she can headbutt me in the neck if she wants to (or if i piss her off enough). She kinda look like Alex from Modern family with her height, long black hair, and glasses. She's a top scorer too so yeah, my sis is an Alex. Aside that, dad's fat. Like, chubby. There was a time when i myself was slightly fatter than i am right now. I had a picture of myself back then and looking at my dad, it reminded of that picture (who's the fatso now! lolol). Oh, and also, my dad picked me up from the airport in a 4WD instead of old rusty van. How fucking awesome is that! I love 4WDs and my family has owned one! Now to find some cyclist and run them over...

No change on mom and big sis though.

In regards of Selayang, there are some parts of the city (or town.. or slum... whatever you call it) that has not changed at all. But for some others, there's tall building sprouting out from everywhere. I had the view of my friend's place from the house's front balcony. The last time i saw it, they're demolishing it for something. Now, it's a three storey building. Three storey building replacing an old house in a matter of two years! Seriously! Oh, and Selayang Mall has reigned supreme in her battle against Selayang Capitol. A whole lot of things have changed in the inside and apparently, it worked. One of the biggest change of all is the fact that Shakey's Pizza is gone (sad face). Yeah, my old workplace with a friendly italian design to the interior has been replaced by some KFC wannabe that, when i visited, had zero customers in it. Wonder why Shakey ever left when their business were kicking ass.

Also, there was Malaysian television. Now, i dunno if i can call it changes or it's just that Australian television is way more awesome but somehow, ads from Malaysian tv all seemed to revolve around the 80s now. Lame acting, unneccessary graphics, excessive effort to make mundane things look awesome, lame catchline (like, "penat dengan something something, gunalah something something" in almost 75% of those ads). And the shows being aired; it seems like everything seemed to revolve around life dramas and pathetic jokes with a "kwang kwang kwang" sound effect everytime something supposedly funny happened. Oz tv is mostly about catchy OZ lifestyle ads and adrenaline based shows. So, i guess i wont be following much tv here.

So yeah, it's just weird how things have changed so drastically in two years. I have stayed in Selayang for almost 11 years and by that time, nothing really changed. When I'm gone for just a short while, everyone seemed to have the idea of changing and building more stuffs. Again, freaky two-year time lapse.

Delaqroux Out.

ONLINE GARAGE SALE.. how cool does that sound?

2010-11-29T11:48:00.000+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates.
Ground rules set; i'm moving back to Malaysia and i'm selling my stuff. Price are negotiable (though stingy customers might be assassinated), and photos will come soon. Email me on facebook or gmail (Address: adninazmi.msa@gmail.com) if there's anything you want to ask. Here's the stuff i'm selling. Drumroll, please.

1. 21 inch television with antennae - 50 dollars
Perfectly working. High contrast, sharp picture

2. Soul Skater skateboard thingy - 20 dollars (retail price: 80 dollars @ BigW)
It's this skateboard like thingy that's on the TV ad for awhile back. Unlike a skateboard, it's really light and compact - can fit in an average backpack. Cool stuff.

3. Outdoor Tent Set - 20 dollars (retail price: 50 dollar +)
Fit for outdoor camping. Fit for 1-2 people. Not for extreme weather but useful for light camping and securing a spot for events like Sydney's New Year's Eve.

4. Soup pot - 2 dollars
No cover but awesome for soup or stews

5. Malaysian Multi Adapter - 2 dollars - Quantity: 2

6. 3 level Steamer Set + Dumpling bamboo steamer - 10 dollars (retail price: 20 dollars @ Reject)
Complete set. Awesome for steam-cooking. The dumpling steamer's a free gift and it's awesome.

7. HP Deskjet F4185 Printer - 10 dollars
Working perfectly. Driver can be downloaded online (email me if you need help on that). Full colour ink, partially used black ink equipped inside.

8. Computer Speaker w/ adapter - 10 dollars
Clear sound. Lightweight + Portable.

9. Electric kettle - 5 dollars

10. Stationery set (some pens and paper clips) + File stand + pen case - 8 dollars (retail price: 15 dollars @ Big W)

11. Steam Iron - 5 dollars

12. Laundry set (Laundry basket + Pail + toiletries case + Pegs and hangars) - 5 dollars

13. Table Lamp - 5 dollars (retail price: 10 dollars @ Reject)

14. Deep Frying Pan - 5 dollars

15. Dinner Plastic plate x 2, Small plate x 1, Bowl x 1, Mug x 1 - 4 dollars

Check back soon for more stuff. Email me if there's anything or drop me a text. Contact list below. Oh, and important note; item will be available on 10 December only. Hope to hear from you guys soon.

Adnin out.
www.facebook.com/darkdelaqroux
adninazmi.msa@gmail.com
0433367691

Tiny little memorable things

2010-11-13T21:33:00.000+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates
Apparently the date for my flight back to Malaysia has been (long) confirmed. It's gonna be the 12th of December. (Note to self: Upon this point, i still dont have my passport. Refer to previous post on how i manage to lost it) Of course, back then, i was really melodramatic on the thought of leaving my life in Aussie. Yep, definitely there's a lot of changes in my life since i got here. The most part of it is the freedom to do things that I want without having anyone telling me that i shouldnt. Life would go back to a hell lot of restrictions when i go back (i.e Mr Arse confiscating my wristband one time claiming that teachers cant wear wristbands. Fuck you. Fuck you very, very much, thanks) and entering a life of a teacher doubled that fact. But, having dinner at Vintage today made me think of one thing; going back to Malaysia isnt so bad at all - especially coz i know that there's always those tiny little memorable things back at home that i forgot to look forward to.

Here in Aussie, i still carry the hobby of doing food hunts (food hunts [refer to; "food hunting] (n): refers to the action of hunting good places for good food around a particular designated area). And definitely, food in Sydney (also Melbourne, Adelaide and Melbourne) has been surprisingly great. There's this myth on people saying that there's just no place for food outside Asia. Definitely, they're not even looking at all. Anyways, food hunting's been a good hobby of mine. Considering that saying about nice food in Asia; hey, i am going back to Malaysia. And if they say that Malaysia's a haven for good food, then it's time this Devil break all hell lose eh? (Eww.. Cheezy...) And, considering that i will have my food hunt comrades in Malaysia, going back to Malaysia is gonna be one look-forward-to food hunt destination.

Then, there's all the myth busting. It's a term i created to describe the action of busting myths told by people about something. Kinda like the show MythBuster. There's this one time early upon my arrival in Sydney when i ask if it's possible to walk all the way from MacQ uni to the city. They responded, "psshhtt...". I prove them wrong (kudos to Enid Cheah for making this mythbusting possible). Then, there was a time when people said that watching sunset at harbor bridge is awesome. I prove to them that watching sunrise is also awesome (meaning that i had to stay in the city for the first ray of light to pop up). Point is; myth busting is just pure fun. Too fun that i forgot that it's something i did alot back in Malaysia as well. And come to think about it, there's still a hell lot of myths left unbusted back in Malaysia still. I'll be back to bust every one of em.

Finally, there's the travels. I remember how i used to say that if there;s one thing fun to do in OZ, it will be the travels - especially unplanned ones where i end up walking to point A to B with no maps, no compass, no one telling me not to go there (except for the hikers at Cradle Mt. who told me not to hike that time - i went up to the top anyways ;p). Of course, i will miss the sights in Australia but hey, i realize that for a travel junkie like me, i never did much of travels in Malaysia. It's a good thing that i am going back to Malaysia. It's not that big of a country and considering the biggest restriction to my travels in OZ is the big price tags on flights, travelling around in Malaysia's an advantage.Sarawak and Sabah, here i come. (All that's left to do is surviving Malaysian drivers... and trying not to get roadkilled '__')

So yep, i'm still not saying that i'm really that looking forward to leaving Australia. There are things i love here that i will have to leave, people that i wont see for awhile (if you are reading this, I'm talking about you, Dog :p), and not to mention, some spots that i spend ages lepaking without a care in the world. But then, maybe all those fun had me go a lil pessimistic. Life dont end til you die (...and i'm pretty sure it still doesnt when you die but we'll get to that later) and surely, going back to Malaysia does not mean that my life's ending. My life's not stopping. Hell, it's not even going in pause. Mine will kick ass and it will kick more ass when i want it to :)
So yeah, i'm kinda looking forward to 12th of December. Let's see what's coming up next.

Delaqroux Out

If i'll die this time around

2010-11-01T15:30:00.002+08:00

Another step taken,

Lost my count,

Stepping up is overrated,

When all else burning down.

Another step taken,

I will start over

Given the chance

If wounds ever recover

Another step taken

Gone are the days

Left behind

When we parted ways

Another step taken

Ongoing staircase

Slow and steady

Needless for haste

Another step taken

Looking down

A leap; we’ll see

If I’ll die,

This time around.

John Smith

Fucking 1^st of November, 2010

Delaqroux Out
p/s: Creative writing shouldnt be associated with being emotionally disturbed and the desire to be heard. Then again, if emotionally disturbed creative writers were listened to, we wont be writing in the first place.

Meet Joe Black (House Spider)

2010-10-22T23:30:00.001+08:00

Delaqroux inc Updates
Before you start reading this blogpost, i would like to offer some word of warning that, for some, this blogpost might turn you into an instant paranoid, especially if you're living in houses around Australia - even more if you're arachnidphobic (i think that's what you call them). More specifically, i will be talking about Agent Joe Black, a unit of 'men' in blacks who might be closer than you think. For the uninitiated, i'm talking about Black house spiders.

Now, i live in a garage-bedroom. Technically, my room is made from a garage. Hence, it does look... well... tool-shed-ish to some extent. I moved in here since last end-autumn and has been living in here throughout winter. Yes, it was indeed cold and i am too much of a greenie to be using a heater in my room. Yet, life was blissful. At least, until spring returns and the place turns warmer. Since a few weeks back, i have been encountering several spiders in my room. I did notice them around the house, especially by the window sills in the kitchen, but never really in my room. I suppose they just came out of hibernation or something that they seem to wander around the house for a nesting place. I guess the winters chill had them dormant that they were out of sight.

I am quite a spider-lover. I think some spiders are exotic-looking. So, the first time i encountered a Joe Black, i was like "awww... where did you come from?", took out my hand for it to crawl on, and gently, carry them out of the house into some bush for it to go back into the wild. But til recently, i had to kill one. I was in my bed when the spider was literally next to my face, on the pillow. It freaked me out and i killed it almost on impulse. I felt bad for it but eventually, i realized another one on the ceiling a week after. And another one crawling on the floor. Then another next to the door. That was when it struck me. My room is infested with these guys. Yet again, i'm not sure what kind of spider they were and i figured that they might just be common house spiders (like the ones in malaysia - only twice the size). However, watching some documentary on poisonouse spiders in Australia, i figured i might just check what kind of spider are those in my room.

It turned out that these guys are Black House spiders and they're venomous. Holy shit.

They're about 2.5 cm long and they're black. The bad news is that these type of spider are, as their name implies, commonly found inside houses and distinguishable by their messy web. The good news is that it is somewhat big for a spider that you're bound to notice it (wait... is that also part of the bad news?) and also, their not as aggressive as some other type of spiders. Often, they will just flee when they see you, not try to defend themselves (which is good). Fortunately, God also made these critters non-lethal. A bite from these Joe Blacks will just send you in a state of pain, muscle-numbness or aching, nausea or giddiness, profuse sweating, excessive salivating etc. - luckily, not death. Their poison wont kill you and there's an antivenom for these guys' bite available in hospitals. Just be sure to take teh right measures when bitten and get an ambulance straight away.

I bet none of my Malaysian friends in Sydney are aware of this and the right measure they should take if bitten. I did a lil research on my own and i figured i should share it with you. Simply, apply bandages firmly (not tightly) on the limb where victim is bitten to slow down the spreading of the venom. Call the ambulance instead of taking the victim to the hospital (if you dont know, the number to call is 000, not 999 or 911). Also, if possible, try to catch the spider (preferably dead in one piece) to have the medic identify what kind of spider that bit you (so they can work out the suitable antivenom). Finally, dont stay in a garage-bedroom.

Delaqroux Out.

Ye Olde' Qroux Photoshop

2010-10-19T16:33:00.002+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates
I was supposed to be doing my assessment and MSA 2010 newsletter design when the caffeine and boredom in my bloodstream started acting up. Without realizing, i had my webcam open and i took several shots of myself. A camwhore would have been amused just by doing this but unfortunately (or fortunately, when you think about it), i am no camwhore. I started putting one of those photos on photoshop and see if i can mess around with it. The result, to my lowest expectation, turned out to be really awesome (at least in my eyes, i think)

Anyways, this was the photo. Please pardon the narcissism.

To those who are familiar with using Photoshop, i thought i might as well share how the mess-around process came about. To those who arent, please skip the following paragraph right ahead.

The process was surprisingly easy. First, i just adjusted the level of the photo to literally shroud the photo in darkness. Then i borrowed Venom's fangy, grinning mouth to replace the invinsible one in the photo. (You might have to tweak Venom's mouth a lil bit so that the mouth appear naturally in tone and in size with the original photo) Afterwards, i just filtered the photo with lens flare render for the glowing eye. However, instead of putting the flare on the same level, i created a new level, put a black splotch on it, and then i had the lens flare on - just so that i can mess around with the size of the light flare (you might notice that i have oblong-ated the shape of the flare). Finally, its all basic photoshop cut and paste work to have the wordings on the photo.

And here's the final piece. For a rusty skill, i like how this turned out.

Anyway, i know this isnt much of a post but, whatever. Just felt like making this a blogpost for the fun of it. I'll be back with more meaningful posts soon. Oh yeah. and Happy Halloween people!

Delaqroux Out.

My micro-teaching bring all the boys to the yard...

2010-10-14T21:29:00.000+08:00

Delaqroux inc Updates!
Somehow, i'm finding the joy of uploading no-life posts on my blog once again. Ah, blogging. Thy charm stood the test of time valantly, still addictive thy are like... durians. Yeah, you dont eat durian after awhile and when you do, you crave for more. Speaking of which, durians was featured in Eat Pray Love. But the guy said it stinks like feet. Wanna know what else stinks like feet? Your mom... And also my life for the past few weeks.

Yeah, for some reason, my life's been a lil disappointing. Expected good things did not turn as well as promised and things just go downhill at the time when it's supposed to be your highpoint. There are a total of.... wait, i'm counting.... uh... about eight events that i was looking forward to the whole damn time. In the end, all eight of them turned out lil bummers. I wish i can share them with you guys but unfortunately, there's all those petty things about saving your face (i'm not sure if this is even a proper, linguistically accepted term), saving other people's face and avoiding major ass kicking that all those things must not be discussed about openly.

But, i can share one though. It's my micro-teaching presentation. The feedback wasnt too bad and the whole thing went on (almost) smoothly with some minor hiccups. But it could have been better. Side note; if there's anyone doing micro-teaching presentation in EDUC391 reading this; if you find one guy (or girl - avoiding biasness here) in the classroom who just bugs you like a shitbug, give him/her the time out. It's better to shove that fella into a corner and have the whole thing done smoothly rather than trying to keep everyone included in the classroom and having things all messed up because of one bug. I put this down in my self-reflection. Thought it's a good two cents for now and the future. Might land you some extra marks for your presentation too.

Nevertheless, i figured out two things (that arent really important but it's fun stuff so what the hell..) while planning and conducting my microteaching presentation. One, i am getting old. Yes, Benny, people grow old, grow all preachy and teachy, and then die. There i was a time ago being a totally rebellious kid who skipped classes he didnt like and here i am now, a pre-service teacher planning how to have a class students would like. Weird feeling. Oh, and two, this whole preparing something-in-hope-of-having-your-class-liking-you-and-your-lesson thing is pretty much a real high risk game. You get things done properly and you will have kids loving the lesson and learning stuffs. You mess things up and they'll yawn like hippos. The latter is obviously every teacher's worst nightmare (except for this one teacher i encountered before who pretty much did all the yawning by himself in class). So, yeah, being teacher is a risky job - but hey, that's exactly where the fun is at. (upon writing this, i took some time out to look around, find a perfect spot on the ground, dig myself a gravehole, and sits in it)

Anyways, in regard of all things stinking like feets, why bother posting this whole blogpost and whine when i cant share what i'm whining about? Coz this is my blog and you guys are my readers. Every now and then, guy has to whine.

Delaqroux Out.

10/10/10 accident photos

2010-10-13T21:25:00.000+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates.
For those who are expecting gruesome photos of the tragedy, skip this read. None will be featured here. I'm just giving my two cents in text. Particularly, i will be talking about the photos and those who uploaded them on the net, their website, blog, whatever.

I was not aware of the accident up til several days after the incident date and i would really like to offer my condolences to whoever's related to the victims of the accident. I do feel great regret on knowing about this tragedy this late. However, i feel greater regret in regards of how i learned of this tragedy; the photos of the incident all over the net.

My message here is simple; please, do not upload them on the internet or share them through any method (tagging people, sending links, reuploading those photos etc.) especially ones that contains a clear image of the deceased - or any other photos for that matter. I am not someone to be talking about ethics here but i do know things that are unethical when i see them. When those photos are taken using the public's cam, i doubt there are any good motives intended. The photos might just be taken so they can upload them on their webpage over the internet, possibly so that they can brag that they (the photographers) were there when the whole thing happened. Let me assure you, that taking photos of an accident, if you're not a member of a official media, and simply uploading them on the internet without regards of censorship or ethics is unethical. Note that if the officials (police, medics etc.) are not having their hands full with the accident, they would try their hardest to disperse the crowd. TAKING PHOTOS OF ACCIDENTS FROM A PUBLIC VIEWPOINT IS NOT ETHICAL.

No one can control the spread of information over the internet. So when the photos are uploaded, for whatever reason behind it, the photos will constantly be shared, tagged, linked and relinked. In other words, the photos will literally multiply without control. I know some people would have some excuse for the photo uploads like a godly reminder of life and death, religious purposes etc. but still, you can do that with a good, convincing text. You dont need to spread photos of those who died. Supporting the uploaders will encourage the photos to multiply even more.

So, why is uploading and multiplying the photos unethical - even with a good intention behind it? The answers are obvious. Think of those who are related to the victims. The last thing they would want is having the thought that the net is now a constant reminder of their loss. I know, your intention to make those photos as life-death reminders are positive, but you dont need to put the visual images online for people to see. I know this might not be a good way of convincing people but i had a friend who passed away years ago because of leukemia. I visited his parents and i saw his computer. I used to hang out with him in front of that computer, playing games. To see that computer and be reminded that he is no longer here, it's the worst feeling ever. I cant stand the sight of the computer, or anything that would remind me that he is gone for that matter. Not to say that i dont want to treasure our memories, but it's not a good feeling at all, believe me. Also, i do recall this one case where this one man was begging the public to not have the leaked evidence photo of her raped sister on the internet. I remembered how devastated the man looked. Somehow, i think we can relate these cases with ours. The main point is that reminders arent always a good thing, especially when its in a form of something you can see - especially those who are going through living nightmare trying to accept the loss of those they love.

Anyway, if you are reading this and you might know some sources or people sharing and passing those photos all around, please remind them to think over what they did. I'm not starting a fight on what's ethical or unethical here. I am just trying to empathize those who are involved. Please, be more human

Delaqroux out.

My phone is stoo-pit

2010-10-12T17:35:00.000+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates

Before I begin, let me clarify that I am in favor of favorism. But not on people, but the things I possess. For instance, I love my jackets more than I love my baju batik. I love my Sam Fu more than I love my Baju Melayu. I love my camera more than my (I was about to say “friends” but I realized that that would be inappropriate) MP3 player. Regardless, throughout all my possessions, there’s one thing I hate more than everything else. No, it’s not Twilight (although, yes, I still hate Twilight). It’s my phone.

A shitty LG U990 phone.

I got it after a week of my stay in Australia. I figured that the postpaid plan was good, the phone that came with it was good, and it was entirely a good deal. Sure enough, at an outside glance, the phone features an okay feature line-up. It was a 3G phone, it had a cam at the front for videocall, a 5MP cam at the back, a touchscreen, an included stylus, and the whole design pretty much look like a decent phone – almost iPhone-ish. But once I had it for a week, I popped out the simcard and put it in my old phone (A sony ericsson K800). I was more than happy to use my old phone instead of a brand new, outta the box LG u990.

Why? The LG phone is shitty. The battery cant last at all (often, I made a call with the battery indicator full, only to have my call cut off in the next 20 minutes as the battery went out), the touchscreen is basically a pointy-pressure screen (without the stylus, using your finger wont work unless you have a pointy finger nail – you can slide your finger to scroll around some menus, but doing that means to stab the screen a slice your phone in half), it has a touch keypad without the erase button (it was located externally – when you type with a stylus, you basically have to use your finger to press the erase button - wtf), the earphone port is located at the side (having an earphone jack plugged while having the phone in your pocket is impossible), the signal receiving antenna is located exactly at the place where you hold the phone during calls (resulting to an almost instant connection kill when you hold your phone next to your ear), the camera is decent but the phone has an auto-contrast fix software that basically increase the contrast of your photo that some went entirely not visible (you cant take a shot of yourself and your mate(s) in a dark environment – no porno pic/film for you), you cant set the phone to ring and vibrate at the same time (you can go only for either one at one time – I was on my MP3 player when my phone rang in my pocket and I didn’t notice it coz it didn’t vibrate – someone finally came to me and said “your phone’s ringing”), the alarm wont ring if you set your phone on silent (I don’t want people’s call to wake me while I sleep, but that means the alarm wont as well), the file organizer’s a mess (oxymorons… nice), you cant have a memory card with more than 2G capacity, the camera switches back to VGA mode everytime you off the cam even when you set it to 5MP, the phone unlock key is located outside the phone at the press-prone-most location, one of the screensaver is a fish pond (something like an iPond without the ability to play fish – biggest insult ever), there’s a menu for apps but there’s no apps to download, it only have some utilities featured (the phone has a calculator but no stopwatch, no timer, no on-screen note/reminder… and WHATEVER FCUK is a date finder!?)… and the list goes on.

So why am I using it still? Coz my old phone finally breaks down and I am stuck with this shitty phone. So, for all the people out there, don’t buy this phone. CNET gave a decent rating for this phone, a 3 ½ star in fact. I gave it five piles of poo and an instant two middle finger up. The only good thing about this phone is that, no matter how many times I smash it onto the floor with frustration, rage, anger and disappointment, it still works perfectly ‘fine’.

Delaqroux Out.

i hate... (part one)

2010-10-08T21:20:00.000+08:00

I hate people who speak in bumper sticker language
I hate strangers who asked me to take photos of them and didnt say thanks (yeah, i'm talking about you, Asian camwhore group in Glenelg)
I hate people who smoke in public with kids around
I hate people who wants to die just because they are stressed out
I hate the voice inside my head that kept on scolding me because i dont do things i should do
I hate people who... how do i put this... when i say something like "i hate humans", they go "arent you a human too?" Yeah, i hate you too, human.
I hate girls who likes to toy around with guys' heart and act all innocent about it
I hate quitters without a good reason
I hate religious people who tell other people (from a different religion) that they (the other people) are going to hell
I hate sad songs about people dying or people leaving
I hate not being able to be a jetfighter pilot
I hate people who like to act cute
I hate mangoes... well, i dont hate them. i like em, but i just cant eat them
I hate working with leaders who cant control their temper or lose their head constantly
I hate last minute workers (if anyone going "arent you a last minute worker too?", as aforementioned, i hate you too) and btw, i'm trying my hardest to discard my last minute working attitude
I hate p**** guys - sorry, have to censor this out, i can sense em watching
I hate people who only see bad things about people
I hate mirrors
I hate people who post shoutouts ONLY to show-off how awesome they are
I hate the thought of people dying and me being the only one left
I hate having no future
I hate excessively-played-on-the-radio songs
I hate people who echoes what other people say so they feel part of something
I hate blogger layout. Seriously, it's ugly.
I hate people who are more awesome than me.
I hate cockroaches - and figurative roaches
I hate people who look down on women
I hate people who said "living in Australia/Sydney is boring"
I hate pushy religious people
I hate not having any hot water to bathe at night
I hate not having stable internet connection
I hate people who dont finish their food - just because the food is not nice
I hate facebook
I hate flamers (people who go all out condemning something because they think something else is better)
I hate sweet-talkers
I hate people who associate negative attitude and emotional disturbance with creative writing and literature
I hate the fact that i cant draw a horse without having it to look like a.... dog with hooves
I hate people who hate animals
I hate using lifts
I hate people who uses lifts meant for disabled people
I hate people who uses Malay to talk bad about other people who cant speak Malay
I hate people who look down on Sabahans and Sarawakians
I hate Sabahans and Sarawakians who hate Eastern Malaysians
I hate empty promises
I hate Mondays
I hate bad drivers - especially that one guy who almost ran me over
I hate people who talks about fucking when they never slept with anyone ever
I hate lying politicians, i hate those who fall for them more
I hate people who wants to get married so they can "skip the hard stuff"
I hate that guy who give ciggarrettes to his son
I hate people who wants to claim Malaysia for their own
I hate the phrase "in a nutshell"

-END OF PART ONE-

Oh, btw, Delaqroux Inc Updates! 8D

Australian Eye - from my eyes

2010-08-31T21:54:00.001+08:00

Delaqroux inc Updates

This post is going to be about a video we've watched in one of our EDUC373 lecture in Macquarie Uni. The title of the video is Australian Eye and it's on a dvd - doubt you'll find an upload on youtube or something - but yeah, here's my opinion on it. Dont like it, shove it.

Basically, the video is about this one program held by this lady (let's call her the facilitator coz i didnt note her name down) about white Australian privilege and discrimination. The program basically have the participants to be divided into two groups; those with blue-eyes (most consist of white Australian) and the brown-eyed ones (mostly consist of the other Australian- those with immigrant/non-Australian/aboriginal background). Now, things got a lil other-way-round inside the program. The blue eyes will be seated in the center of the room surrounded by the brown-eyes and they will be failed on several basis purposely, having their blue-eyes to blame discriminately every time. So in other words, its basically a program where the white Australians will be having some hands-on experience of being in the shoes of the discriminated minority group and will hopefully gain a great insight on what discrimination and social justice is like.

Now, by all due respect; I thought this program was a good one. After all, like Mr Atticus Finch once told me "you have to be in someone else's skin and walk around in it" before you really get to know how another person is feeling and being treated. But something from the video caught my attention - and its the Brown eyes. A group where I, if i attend that kind of program, will be in.

You might wonder "if the blue eyes are 'discriminated' or became the 'minority' in that class, who's the majority and the discriminator?". Well, they are the facilitator and the brown eyes. Now i thought this was all part of the process and that the only way this program would work is to get some highly discriminative group of people to look down on the blue eyes. After all, it's about getting hands-on experience for the blue eyes. But seriously, how the brown eyes acted during the whole program was... well... Let's just say they were being douches. Some of them were joining the 'fun' in poking at the blue-eyes failure along with the facilitator. Some were mocking at them for "not understanding how they felt". And when one of the blue-eyes were being a bit defensive about having to sit down and shut up while the facilitator mock her, one of the brown eyes claimed out loud that she had to sit down and shut up for years in her life but the blue eyes were being defensive about having to shut up for 5 minutes. Now, i perfectly understand how this brown eyed felt in her life but... i dunno, a lil bit of sympathy anyone? Read on.

At one point of the activity, the participants (both blue and brown eyes) had to write three words describing how they felt and how they felt on the opposing group. of course, the blue eyes wrote that they are scared, judged etc and they described the brown eyes to be dominating, controlling, relaxed, comfortable etc. The brown eyes described themselves almost the same way ("i felt relaxed, comfortable, and powerful" (accompanied by a really smuggy smile) but described the blue eyes, despite them (the blue eyes) being oppressed and powerless for the past couple of hours in the program, to be smart-asses, rebellious, smug, something about not knowing their place, arrogant (one lady who were to write three words mentioned four instead of three and the last two being "arrogant" and "smug-faced"). This point of the activity caught my attention. None of the brown eyes wrote anything among the three words description that shows sympathy to the discriminated blue-eyes. After all, they know how it feels like to be looked down on, discriminated, shover over, and oppressed. Why is there no pity in the eyes of the brown eyes?

If i am in that activity as a brown eyed, the three words i would write will be "I", "hate", and "myself". Yeah, i know how it feels like to be discriminated, and here i am discriminating another group of human being and enjoying it. I will hate myself for that.

That is my main concern after watching that video and the program altogether. The brown-eyes were having a good time mocking the blue eyes, joining in the fun of looking down on the blue eyes, and rubbing salt on the 'wounds' inflicted by the facilitator on the blue eyes. Yes, I am perfectly aware that the brown eyes had way terrible experience being oppressed because of their difference but being discriminated and oppressed before; does that give you the right for vengeance? I am surprised that none of the brown eyes participant felt disgusted with themselves for enjoying the feeling of discriminating the blue eyes - they were enjoying the saddistic pleasure of vengeance! There were several blue eyes who couldnt take the oppression anymore in that program and left - i am surprised the brown eyes were enjoying it when they should know how oppression really felt like. If i were in that program, even as a brown eye, i would leave. Oppression and discrimination is a disgrace, even if i am the one who are to give them.

So, something struck me at the end of the video. If in such case where the tables are turned, will the oppressed become the oppressor? This Australian eye program suggested that the answer might be a "yes". that's the fear that had the majority group oppressing the minority group all these while. If they ever let the world become an equal ground, where the minority group is given just as much privilege as the majority group, will there be a case where the minority group will oppress the majority? A real life example, note how the Asians are flooding over Australia in some excessive sense; there's a report on the news that had Australians not being able to get a job in their own country because employers of non-Australian origin are giving job opportunities only to their own people. That is one example where the minority group can discriminate the majority group if they are given the chance. So when Australian employers limit their job-giving to Australians, the non-Australian call it discrimination. Dont they realize that some of them will (and are) doing the same given the chance?

So, how do we really get an equal ground where neither the majority or the minority will be oppressors or the oppressed? Here's one suggestion; dont give in to fear if you are of the majority group and if you are of are the minority group, dont give in to fear AND vengeance. One good deed deserve another, an evil deed doesnt. Even if you have gone through hell all your life and finally made it to heaven, dont push those who are still in line. If you are of a minority group wherever you are - please take great note on this. Equality is not the task of the majority group but yours as well. Rising up to power - to show the majority group that you're stronger than them - is not an effort to equality.

Saving my memories

2010-08-29T23:05:00.000+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates

Here i am now with my external hard drive infected with some virus and me trying everything i can in (and maybe beyond) my powers to try and save all the files i have saved in it.

Well, there's nothing much to say in this blogpost except for that. I have been trying all manners of recovery softwares i can get my hands on as well as several tech tricks to get access to my HD for the past 15 hours. But as a little note here; is it just me or tech people (i dont want to call them "fucking nerds" coz that would be really, really rude) are really, really inconsiderate people (i dont want to call them "bastards" coz that's too rude... you get the idea)? I mean, i am really devastated with the idea of losing everything i saved in my hard drive, especially all my photos. Imagine, all the photos from Day 1 of my life in Australia all gone? It's like i have never been to Australia if i lost all those photos. And it's not just about me and my life, it's about people i have met along the way, things i have seen, experiences i had - everything. I dont want to one day forget them all just because i lost the photos. Anyways, back to the tech sonnovabitches.

The virus in my HD apparently called out for me to reformat my external. Now, it could just be some misleading virus but i did manage to hack my way through and yes, my external is empty (at least it seems so) - reformatting might be the only way to be able to use my HD again at the cost of all files gone. Now, with so much at stake, i dont want to believe that dumbass virus and i still want to try and find out if the files in my HD is okay. So, I brought my external to JB Hifi and ask one of the technicians if there's any way they know for me to confirm this. So, this guy comes up, took my HD (or rather, snatches it) and plug it into one of his PCs, ask if i still have a valid warranty, and after awhile, he told me that there's nothing else that can be done. At one point, i saw the guy almost click "yes" when the HD prompted if you want the HD to be reformatted. I told them that i dont trust that reformat request and the guys rudely told me that he knows how he works with these stuffs and that he is familiar with this kind of virus.I told him again that i think there might still be files in my HD and that reformatting might make everything lost for good. The guy rudely replied "So? what do you want me to do?" I told him that i'll try to figure something out myself and he unplugged the HD (almost with a tug) and toss it back to me. Afterwards, he just left me by myself. Talk about a dick. But as another side note: after i manage to work/give up with my external HD, i'll work to have this guy's ass fired from JB Hifi. I want that fatass to have to beg his parents for money to get his lazy lump of rotten maggoty meat flaps of fat to ever eat a bag of chips again. I swear it.

Anyways, in the meantime, i will continue to work in extracting the files in my HD. Somehow, i think i've lost a huge chunk of sense in my head for the time being. I find myself hitting my own face a couple of times at the thought of giving up and i forgot to have dinner earlier today. I dont know how many articles i have read about computers and drives and i lost count on how many data recovery softwares i have downloaded. Sigh...Oh well. Persistence makes perfect.

It's my idea

2010-08-25T02:17:00.001+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates!

First things first, 4935 is my laptop. I decided to call my laptop that instead of "baby" or "lappie" as some of my colleagues do. 4935 just sounds cool. It's like how Luke call that dumb golden plated robot C3P0 and that vaccuum robot that chirps, R2D2. So there you go, my laptop is called 4935. Oh, and as a side note; i'm kind of down with a fever at the moment. What's so special about that? Well, it's pretty much the first fever that managed to get me down during my stay in Aussie. I missed a number of class and they're solely not on the excuse of pure laziness... well, almost. Anyways, back to the laptop.

So there was i, online, looking for something smart to do (or smut?... hmmm...- no, just kidding. seriously, i was looking for something smart to do) and suddenly, a pop up came up. It says "Security Suite" and apparent, the 'software' is scanning my laptop. 'Coincidentally', the 'software' detected a hellota virus in my \laptop. Now, i'm not that big of a tech savvy but i know pop-ups and internet scams -and most obviously, this little security suite thingy is not an actual application. I dont know if you should be calling this thing spyware or virus or trojan or spartan. Regardless, i tried to have this 'application' turned off. Obviously you cant. I tried a more manual way to get it out of my taskbar via Windows Explorer. Nope, still no luck - cant find this thing. I tried opening my Window's Task Manager and this security suite tells me that the task manager's exe file is infected. Yeah, right. Soon, i found out that every single softwares in my laptop is being deemed 'infected with virus' and this Security suite virus is telling me to download the full 'anti-virus' in order to remedy this situation. Pft... Talk about irony.

Anyways, i threw in the towel. When things get tough with your laptop, the laptop goes a reformation. That's exactly what i did - the easy way out. I decided to install Windows 7 instead of the lame-ass Windows Vista Starter Pack i had since the time i purchased my laptop. Somehow, Windows 7 worked a wonder. I remembered reinstalling my Windows Vista after my laptop's last reformatting session. The whole system start lagging worse than my previous laptop running Serious Sam with all hell breaking loose. So yeah, this time around, Windows 7 that i have just installed worked smoothly. the boot up system resembles Windows Vista alot but yeah, i suppose they require less space. There's not much noticeable internally with the new system but the layout has changed kind of drastically. The taskbar/toolbar is apparently called super bar (despite the name Winodws 7 - Super Bar adds another not-so-creative jargon to the whole PC system thingies). So yeah, here i am, now a proud user of Windows 7 (illegally - not so proud about that though)

Anyways, why is this whole story about reformatting my latop's worth a blogpost of its own and your time reading it? Well, i have absolutely no idea. Must be the fever.... or maybe i'm just plain bored. Whatever. So, without further blabbering, let me just end this blogpost with; this is DarkDelaqroux.... and Windows 7 is my idea.

.....Actually the sole reason why i'm uploading this blogpost and talking about my laptop being reformatted with Windows 7 and all is because i want to say that last line. Yep, so i've said it and you've read it. Weee.

Grand Theft Alchemic Drive & Halomari Threemacy

2010-08-25T01:56:00.002+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates!
This post was originally made as a trial post on My IGN blogsite. Just saw some notice about the blog being a mere beta version so i thought i might as well make a copy of my blogpost on my normal blogsite instead. Anyways, this blogpost will entirely be about games (IGN stands for International gaming network after all) so for those who couldnt care less about this topic, i really suggest skipping this one. Then again, it's a free blog.

Despite being an experienced blogger on my usual blogsite, i thought i would just give a blogpost on IGN a shot. And what other topics are worth discussing here than games! And on top it of, something about games that i have just thought about a few minutes ago; it’s a new term (probably) so bare with it. It’s called; GAME MIXING!! p/s: pardon the grammar, the not-making-sense-ory, or the pure stupidity of this post. I love you all.

Yeah, game mixing. It’s basically you getting two different gameplay elements from two different game titles and mixing it up to make a single game. No, Marvel vs Capcom titles are what i call as cross-overs (not sure if other people call it that) – Game mixing is entirely, mixing gameplay elements rather than the same old gameplays elements of one game only with a dash of characters from both original titles. Not sure if i’m making much senses here. But here’s an example of game-mixing that i wish to see… or play… maybe.

Grand Theft Auto IV + Robot Alchemic Drive
I’m sure everyone’s familiar with GTA4 but not RAD for the PS2 system. It’s basically a robot driving game where you defeat monsters from outer space (google a review on youtube and you’ll see some gameplay). The best part about RAD is the robot driving thingy obviously and the best thing about GTA4, to me, is the thievery (you stealing cars = fun). But mixing the gameplay elements from both GTA4 and RAD, you’ll get Grand Theft Alchemic Drive!! It’s basically the world of GTA except there’s robots fighting in the streets. And what you can do is the ability to hijack one robot and use it to complete missions (which consists of shooting people on the ground as well as people in robots as well). If it seems that your robots busting up, worry not – get out of the cockpit and hijack another robot. Just be careful you dont recklessly destroy or kill the entire population or you’ll get stars – the intergalactic polices will be after you…. IN THEIR VOLGARA ROBOTS!!!! (of course, you can hijack those too)

HALO + KATAMARI DEMACY
Yes, the stupid prophet is back and yes, human is at the brink of extinction that they resorted to training/creating super soldiers called Spartans. But is it enough (with all Spartans being MIA and all) with only John to clean up the entire mess? NO! Spartans should go KATAMARI!! Yeah, why pick up normal human guns, rechargable shields and jump extra high when you can roll into a ball and sweep the entire Covenant fleet with you! People complain about the Propher dying off way too easy in HALO3? No fret with HALOMARI!!! You roll into a ball of Covenant armies and you crash into the prophet bowling-ball-down-the-alley style! Oh, and those missions with Arbie (The Arbiter)? Who says there can only be one ball on the playing field? Jump in? Try ROLL IN!

So, now that you are familiar with this Game mixing thingy, what are your ideas for two (or more) gameplay elements to mix into a single title? Let me know what you think! =)

p/s: Gee… posting blogposts about gaming ideas that make no sense is kinda fun… Thanks My IGN!

Asian@MQlibrary.org

2010-08-13T10:29:00.001+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates!

Here i am now, writing this blogpost in the comfort of a study table in Macquarie University library (that i find vacant without much of a hassle surprisingly) and am hereby to talk of my observation in regards of the library interior - or to be more specific, Asian-filled library interior. As a side note, i have been meaning to post something on this matter for quite some time but i often do not have the time for it. So, without further ado, let's get this shit done!

In relevance to my cultural plunge assessment recently, i have been thinking about being in a totally foreign environment and being able to view the culture of my own from an outside viewpoint. With that being said, i have been doing some observation in regards of the Asian culture for that matter. And personally speaking, i am starting to develop a certain extent of prejudice towards some Asians. In a more layman's term, some (not all, obviously) Asians are friggin annoying! And to explain this, i will explain the characteristics of those annoying-as-hell Asians in this library.

First, there's the Study-table Hogger. Yeah, you! That guy in front of me who has just left his study table while at the same time, still claiming that it is his. How? Well, he left some few papers on the table as well as his jacket and he had not return for almost 30 minutes, presumably for lunch - expecting to return back to that seat and claim it back on his leisure. Now, i am not sure if there's a particular rule forbidding that (which to my mind, i think there IS one) but come on! If that's not being a dick then i dont know what is! Often i take 15-20 minutes walking around the uni library just to get a seat (and often, it ended up with me walking out of the library, failing to find any). And, i wont be as pissed if the study areas are just full. But the problem is that 50% of the study table are occupied by study-table hoggers who are not even on that table! Their belongings are there, however, equivalent to a dog pissing on a lamp-post and claiming that lamp post as his when in truth, he wont be returning there for the next few hours! Once, i heard of this tale about a person who valantly claim a table-hogger's table when the hogger hasnt return for 30 minutes. When the hogger returned, that valant claimer valantly claim that the hogger hasnt return for more than 15 minutes and thus, the table should no longer belong to the hogger. However, that valant claimer politely offered if teh hogger would like to share the table with him. No, dear readers, the hogger can utter no other word in response except "No, this table is mine!"

Then, there's the Snoozer. These kinds of Asians still belong to the hogger category but instead of hogging a table and disappearing, they apparently mistook the study-table as a sleeping place. Yeah, the only reason they have a study-table or a space in the library is so that they can avoid the outside cold, and find a place to sleep without being disturbed. Now, i dont mind if people are taking a short break from their studies and taking a short nap, but come on, these guys are literally snoozing for hours. Now, upon writing this, i am able to witness this one guy (picture of him will be uploaded soon) who is dozing off on one of the library's lounge sofas. Yesterday, i entered the library to do my assessment at 10am, and there was he, sleeping. I spent an hour there, went for a class for the next two hours and returned to the library to resume my assessment, and there was he, still sleeping. I spent an hour with my assessment before my laptop's batt went out and as i left, there he was, doing what he does best. Oh, and did i mention that i will be uploading his picture today? No, i didnt manage to take a pic of him yesterday but it seems i can do that earlier today. Why? Coz he is there even today, in the very same spot, sleeping! Now, he could be dead on that chair for all i care but find a different place to die, that sofa can be given to someone else who would come to library to do their work on the comfort of a sofa. Dont misuse it as a bed!

Finally, there's the Couple. Dont take me wrong. These are not the only three types of annoying Asians in the library. There are more. And dont get me started on the ones OUTSIDE the library! Anyways, the couple comes in, well obviously, a pair. Now, i dont have any problem with a public display of affection (or PDA for short) nor am i those types of people who gawks at people kissing or acting lovey-dovey in the public. But in my book, they have to be in their own space or in an open public place where what they do may not seem so obvious. Coming back to the matter at hand, this Couple find the library as a retreat. Hugging around and holding hands are acceptable - even kissing, i dont mind. But when it comes to the guy singing a Chinese song to the girl and the girl projecting her voice in high pitch to act cute - that is just dead annoying! For one thing, that is just as annoying as hell as it self. Serenading and acting cute is romantic only to the Couple, not the public. So whatever you're doing is an annoyance to the ears of those outside. For another matter, and a political-sense at that, a library is a quiet zone! Singing to one another and talking in high-pitch voice is just as obvious as someone speaking on a megaphone in a church during a virgil. Please, respect the other people who are here for the quiet (i'm not talking about the Snoozer)!

As i have said, there is more to those annoying Asians than the number that i can get to discuss here. There are the On-the-Phone-s, the PC Hogger, the Public PC Facebooker (recently discussed in The Rant section of last month's Grapeshot issue), the Talkers, the Resource Book Hogger, the Charger etc. etc. and i havent even started to the ones outside the library. Now, if you are an Asian and feeling abit defensive, i know, there non-Asians who does all of that as well but there are notably, a small number of them. As prime majority users of the library, what we Asians do in the library will be the most obvious. Please consider some ethnical issues when you are in a common room and stop being annoying. Thanks.

Oh, and upon writing this closing, the table hogger in front of me have returned, totalling in one hour of absence from his table. Pfft...

The TV Show

2010-08-11T00:48:00.003+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates!

Funny thing; there was i in a lil bit of downed mood when everybody else are like; "fast tomorrow. O joy!" and i started writing a poem by myself to spark a tad bit of that joyful spirit to my night candle-lit garage-bedroom. SOmehow, posting that poem up on this blog (done a few secs ago) made me talk about ENGL201 and how i scored a credit (was kinda hoping for a distinction but nah, poets cant be beggars and beggars cant be choosers). That made me think about my final write-up that scored me that grade and eventually lead me to go through my external docs stashes, find that write-up and give it another read. For some reason, i think what i wrote was... well... a piece of crap that should have gave me a pass instead of a credit and yeah, i guess imma let you guys think of it. Lemme know.

Oh, and i'm not sure if it's actually legal to make a submitted assessment write-up available for public viewing so, instead of posting the final copy, i'll let you guys in on one of the final-est drafts. Hope that will keep me free of any uni copyright charges or whatever :p Anyways, here I go. It's a 3000+ words write-up so you might want to get some supply of caffeine handy.

The TV Show

Have you ever realized that everything in front of you might be nothing but a TV show? Have you ever realized the fact that you are sitting in front of a TV screen with an endless movie viewing session, your eyes and ears totally glued to what is in front of you, totally being immersed in the plotted storyline and that you lose track of which is real and which is not? Of course, you would remember that realization. Who would ever forget that feeling? But, that will not be the focus here. What I want you to remember is that split-second moment of noting that this ‘life’ you are watching… or rather, living in, if in the case where you are that immersed, is not real and that as soon as you come up to this, you realized that you had the remote control to the television screen all along. As soon as you press the “switch off” button, what would you remember from the show you were watching until awhile ago? How did you like them? What was your favorite scene? And, of course, turning off the show halfway through, what do you think would be the best music to accompany the ending credit roll? I do remember myself in this situation. And as this is my moment to be among all of you, allow me to share how this moment is like for myself; what did I saw on the TV screen? What did I remember? What was everything like? How was everything like?

Sweetness, it means everything. Like chocolate-fudges that have warm chocolate cream oozing out when you cut out a bit of it with a small fork. And when you do that in a really freezing room, you can see the chocolate cream streaming slowly out with a puff of sweet smelling warm steam. The sensation of wanting, feeling that overwhelming taste of sweetness and wanting that sweet, sweet indulgence in your mouth – that feeling is everything. It is everything that you would ever want. Yes, sweetness – it is everything. You were young. That was when you learned that too much of sweetness can cause die-bitties, small little things that grows in you that bites you until you die when you eat too much sweets. I used to think so that way. Sweetness can kill. Sweetness killed grandpa. I remembered grandpa Tok Wan. He was a happy, old man and he loved riding his motor scooter with me, clutched in the front seat in between his large, knees. He loved to tell funny stories which made us laugh during breakfast and dinner time. Those stories made us not realize how little the food on the dinner table for us to share was. They were hardly any – let alone chocolate fudges. But his funny stories made the bad feelings go away. We did not realize how little the food were, we finished it up while we were listening to his stories. By the end of them, we finished the food and we were full. His stories are always short and funny. His stories are always short, funny, and sweet. Like chocolate fudges we never had. Oh, and I remembered how I asked grandpa on how did he ever managed to get so plump. He said that he loved laughing but for most of the time, he had to hold back some so he did not annoy grandma. All those laughter he held made him swell up like a balloon. That story itself was a genius. It made me laugh. The story was a masterpiece. I loved laughing with old, happy, grandpa. I love laughing to all sweet memories of old, happy, sweet grandpa. So when he died, the laughter ended. Of course, I learned that he died out of too much sugar in his blood. And yes, I learned that the sweetness in those days died with him too. And like, chocolate fudges, sweetness is everything. Having it too much kills. Not being able to have it kills you twice.

Being killed twice – how did that felt like?

Perfection. Death and reborn. The restart button. When imperfection is crossed out and everything is remade, once again, perfected. The feeling of re-freedom, the sense of re-knowing, and the thoughts of finally re-accepting that things cannot ever be perfect, but yet so sure that things will not ever be perfect; the feeling of sheer re-perfection. It is like the feeling of raindrops on your skin – not one single stimulation on your receptory senses is the same to the other – such perfection in an imperfect, unsymmetrical rhapsody of touch and delight. You stood in the middle of the rain, soaked, with your eyes closed. You feel the touches. You accept them with open arms. Joy? Happiness? Yes to some. No to the other. Some of them hated the rain. Some of them hated the rain for making them feel imperfect. Every splatter of raindrops made them think that they are like bronze statues in the middle of a rainy, misty, moist garden. Each drop reminded them that they are corroding away, going from good to rust and rusty to gone. And also, the constant reminding that things, dear things, will never last, fast corroding before you can maintain and cherish them – not to mention, reminding them of the total needlessness for any of those dear things to be treasured. The fact that each drop of clean, clear rain splatters to thousands of glittery small molecules of water is, to them, much like a finely crafted glass goblet dropping on a concrete floor. To witness that is horrifying indefinitely - the few heart beats skipped as you catch the last glimpse of that fine crafted masterpiece before it is gone forever, the irrationally large hope placed on the item regardless of knowing so well of its end a second after, and the split-second space where choice should be made on whether to launch themselves forward in hope of saving that piece of a lost cause, or to get some distance and ears firmly clasped with their palms – which in my opinion, the latter is the way wiser choice to be made. Everything is as good as gone. Everything is just as good as being washed away by the rain. In fact, the rain reminds them that they are not perfect and also, nothing else are. But to know how to embrace such quantum of imperfection is to accept those raindrops – and perhaps everything else – can never be perfect. Is that not perfection; to acknowledge things are imperfect? Like how each drop of rain is different than another. Like how each splatters of water is distinctively different to the other. Like how each shattered memories is in its own unique from one to the other. Like pieces of what you remember is different from another way of remembering them.

Like chocolate fudges and sweet memories, there are specifically ways on how to remember things fondly. I once lived in Sydney and I loved the city. The best part of visiting the city is to go to the Opera House. That is how everyone normally remembers of the city. Nevertheless, if I am to think about visiting the city, I will first remember the train ride to the city. I loved the build up to the excitement of being in the city than being in the city itself. It is just like how I think that the best part of music is the solo strumming of the guitar before the rock band plays, or the drum-rolls before the orchestra begins. So, in this case, I remember visiting the city by being on the train tracks to it. I would take the bottom seating in the last car and to follow the train staff announcing all the stops from the first to the destination. And I’ll be poetic about it. I’ll write songs about those stops. I’ll write lyrics about the people in the train. I’ll write about the people outside the train. I’ll write about how the train ride begins and I’ll write how everything ends when the train stops. I wrote songs and lyrics heaps but there is one that I remember rather fondly, like “Taking the Train to Reality”. I wrote about the time when I passed St Leonards and how I thought about how train-tracked life is. Life is so predictable that it hurts and how we always know the joy of loving amiss. I wrote about passing by the station of Epping and telling myself that everything is okay. But I do remember the lady next to me was crying and how the sky outside was shallow and gray. “Let’s both of us be lost”, I remembered telling the lady, that “it’ll be fine if there’s just the world and you and me”. But I also remembered writing about returning back to reality, exactly when the train reaches its stop and we parted ways in Sydney. I remembered the excitement about being in the city, the excitement of going to be in the city, and the excitement of believing that we will never reach the city. I remember it all and I remember it all fondly.

“How well do you remember it all?” he asked. I shrugged. I hate interruptions. I hate being interrupted and I am sure you would hate it too. He interrupted me from telling you my story. How, how rude! I shrugged again. “What other fond memories do you have?” he asked once again, remaining persistent regardless of my exhibition of very minimal interest to him. Now, my friends, I believe he would want to be friends with me just like how you all are? Shall we accept him to the group? Shall we accept this persistent, rude man to our group’s share-a-tale session? I hope you will not mind for this man’s persistency knows not the underlying meaning of one remaining oblivious to his questions. Mayhaps, we should include him in our group of storytelling. Why not? How much harm can he do to our friendship? This man, now, is looking at me through his half-rim glasses, eyes eager as puppies’ to know my story. I took a quick glance at him, from top to toe. He is wearing a white laboratory coat, his nametag hanging out of his left chest-pocket with a picture of his younger self which seems to appear much less stress-looking than how he looks now. He also wears a necktie of a very nonsensical pattern display. Only a child would pick that kind of tie off the shelves. Only a fool would wear it to work. A fool or a birthday dad, that is. I wished him “Happy birthday”. He did surprised but not too surprised. He just smiled and replied with a bitter thanks. No, he is not surprised. Must have been all those years and years back when I wished him everytime. He knows how I got the date correct every year. I do not have any calendar with me in here but I know it had been a year every time just by looking at this man. I know him so well. I know him well enough to know that his grandchild gave him that necktie. I know him well enough to tell that his grandchild passed away. I know him so well to tell how sad this poor old man is. I know it will not be long before he, too, will start watching his own TV shows. So I began telling him my memories. The same ones I have told all of you just out of sympathy, and as a birthday gift.

Soon after, he thanked me and left, leaving me alone once again within these four walls, all by myself. Now we are all alone again. Where was I? When did I stop? I could not so well remember, neither do I care. It is not at all important as thinking about chocolate fudges, sweet memories, rebirth and raindrops, and trainride and reality. I looked at one of the cushioned white wall where my TV screen used to be. I remembered those joyous times when I used to spend hours and hours, days and days, years and years of my own favorite TV show. I have decided to stop now. Too much TV kills. But story-telling does not. After all, they strapped my hands in this straining jacket, not my mouth. So, my dear friends, let me tell you what I remember. Let me tell you of all the different shows I have watched. Let me tell you what I think about all those shows. We have all the time to spare for ourselves. After all, I am in this TV show of yours and you are watching me. So let’s get back to the program, shall we?

-THE END-

Oh yeah, i've watched Inception a day ago. How cool was that movie?

Just keep running, John

2010-08-11T00:40:00.004+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Update
Feeling that dark, emo-ish streak at the moment. Why not use em for some poetry writing?
After all, i scored a credit for ENGL201 and if there's one thing i learned from that subject is that emo writers produce good writings. Why not hop on the bandwagon, sneak in, wait for your moment. And run for it?

An infinite alleyway
A narrow path
An escape
Southwards it points
To nothingness it brings me
Abyss
Such a pleasure
Just keep running, John.

An autumn forest
Thorns hidden
beneath the thick
Layer of dead, dried leaves
Shrill shriek when trodden
Ignore them
Hum a tune
Just keep running, John.

A dense space
Of darkness
Of black night sky
Southern-cross stars
Pointing northwards
Mislead the misguided

But who gives a fuck?
Just keep running,
John.

Dark A. Delaqroux
“Just keep running, John”
August 11^th, 2010 – 2.39am

Cam-whore? More like, cam-zombies

2010-06-28T11:30:00.004+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates!

And i just got back from my holidays, like WHOOOOOO, and i made some observation. Mainly at tourists and how they behave with their cams and photogenic attitude. Now, they do say that a picture contains a thousand words and unless they're referring to that 100010001000010001 in literally everything in the Matrix movies being words rather than numbers, well, no, a picture does not necessarily paints a thousand. Sometimes it paints only four and for the most case of it is "i made this up". Yeah, sometimes, the picture that we took, it's at its best saying nothing at all.

Shots with strangers

We do this and we do it alot. Why? Coz when we're somewhere far, far away, we want to make believe that we are living far, far away as well with actual breathing people and with real stories. But we have none of them and we dont go around with real living, breathing people. But instead, we are nothing but zombies calling out of the living to give us their brains - coz we have none. So we take photos with strangers. I find people who do this highly annoying. Come on. You dont know them. All you can do is point at those strangers in those photos and said, "I was in Australia". Justifying that, you have photos with Australians. But do you have stories that involve both you and them? Do you know those people? Or do you take photos to tell people that you're in overseas but in fact, you're living in a small shell Malays call tempurung. So, no, you dont. Lame. Stop being a with-strangers-cam-zombie.

Shots with kids.

People do this and they do it alot. Hell alot. Mostly occurs to people who likes kids or they're expected to be with kids and they want to evoke that "awwww" factor that suggest that you're a child person. Well, no, in truth, you dont. First of all, taking pics with random kids is very, very unhealthy. Remember how mom used to say "dont talk with strangers coz strangers are bad people who kidnaps you and sells you in the market?" Well, 15 years ahead in time and you're the kidnapping strangers who talk with kids and want to take photos with them. Dont. Kids condition things. Not all strangers are nice and take photos with you. Some strangers are real kidnappers. Dont suggest to kids that kidnappers dont exist. Stop being a child-'loving'-cam-zombie.

Shots with backgrounds

No one can take photos without background so, yes, we do this, and we do it a hell-of-a-lot lot. But that's fine obviously. We cant help to take pics with a particular background but can we help to know what the background is about? Yeah, before you take photos to show people that you've a been-there-done-that shot-zombie, know what the background is about. Picture this (pun intended); you're in some country and you take photos of yourself looking comical when the background is something of a respectful momento. Like a soldiers memorial. Take a photo of yourself star-jumping in front of a soldier's name plague who was commemorated for dying in a war and that the family never saw him again after he walked out that door, being called to war - instant classic, scenic-cam zombie.

So, people, pictures can be deceiving. It makes you look pretty but in truth, you might be an idiot. It might paints some story, but in truth its just you pretending that things actually happen. It makes you look caring and adorable but in truth, you dont give much pluck about what you're taking picture with. So, venturing out into the horizon does not mean that you bring along your cam companion and be a cam-zombie. Cam-whores are self-obsessed people who took a photo 80% of themselves. But at least, they DONT give a damn about the world around. Cam-zombies take photos of things around them and PRETEND they give a damn about the world in their shots. Just be a cam-whore. It's healthier.

The cursing kid on Killzone

2010-06-09T23:50:00.006+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates.

for those who dont know what Killzone is, it's a shooting game on playstation 3 and it's about interplanetary human wars somewhen in the distant future (sigh... XXX years in the future and it's still humans waging war against each other... classic..). So, i'm not sure how should i be explaining the game for my readers out here but let's just say, there's the goodie-goodie interplanetary peace-keeping force on one team and then there's the oppressed guys in gasmask on the other team. There's more depth to the gameplay and stuff of course but if you duke it out online, you'll play with 31 other human players from all over the world and you blast on the rival team. Simple. Which team was I on? Well, the guys in gasmask with glowing red goggles of course. Come on. You know me. I hate virtual peace. Virtual chaos all the way.

So, i was playing and playing. Pretty much minding my own business until this one point, i'm racking up pretty good killing streak and staying alive all the way. But that's not the point of the story. Okay, so my internet connection isnt always good (most often it's so-so) but for some reason today, the internet is almost perfect that you can hear the online chatter super clearly (they're the players speaking through the game mic - kinda like online voice chat during plays). Kinda wish i have a mic... I wanna talk! <-- this is an inside joke. sorry.

So, i was hearing all those people talking while they're playing, screaming all the way, laughing, passing commands, talking about strategies, and pretty much things i dont really get - all in all sorts of accents and slangs. In one point, i thought it was pretty cool. Here we are, blasting each other with guns and grenades like it's actual personal when the people playing are from all over the world connected with the single uniting idea - the love of playing games. It was almost touching. But then, i noticed a voice of a kid saying things which makes us all think, "does this kid actually knows what he is saying?"

So, yeah, apparently, most of the voices sound adult-ish's. But this one kid, due to the fact that he obviously sounds like a kid, make his voice stand out from the rest. But that's not all that stood out from the rest. This kid was throwing out curses like... i dunno... One-word curses for me is pretty much normal and i suppose they are accessible to all ages but this kid, he knows the average of five to nine word curses. For example; (under-age readers; cue for you to scroll down and ignore this line) something something "wtf... you shit-fag-gay-ass-gay-retard-n00b" something something something. Yeah, true story. And that's just one that i recognize. I heard some whole lot of it and i, for a moment, was like "wait... whuuuud?" and "dude, give piece a chance". And then there's this one point he was wailing and cursing for God-only-knows what reasons that there was some crashing sound on his line (I assume he was repeatedly shot at and he got angry and threw something - probably his headset). And i thought this was normal for people to curse and go on flame wars so i kept quiet (and i dont have a mic anyway) but at this one point, there was this British guy who totally got pissed off and told that kid to shut up (he has a British-ish accent, i think). Well, the kid didnt. He blew out awhole lot more.

Pretty much the main idea that crossed my mind is; who taught this kid all this? Well, of course, i assume that the kid love games and well, let's just say, characters in games do curse alot - pretty much of an observational learning might have taken place. But shouldnt someone watch what this kid is playing and how this kid is playing them? And that reminds me of a ladyfriend of mine's kid she's babysitting and the kid's just 4 or 5 years old, and he came back from school one day saying that he heard another kid said "fuck". Where the hell does that other kid learned that word from? In fact,the first kid even use it himself thinking it wasnt that bad of a word. And then, there was that indonesian kid on youtube who smokes and he's barely in school yet. Then, there was some news of some kid doing his female friend (yes, "doing", you know what i mean) and they are all in flippin primary school! Seriously! Kids these days?

So, as closing words; i do curse. I love cursing and not just your typical one-word curses, i curse in the system of word chain and terrible, terrible things are said. I dont drop f-bombs though. F-bombs are for kindies cursers. I cursed about moms, and interlinked parts of human body, and innappropriate entities which exist only to be use as insults. I have got myself totally pissed and i cursed without knowing whatever that is that i have said but they are definitely hurtful. And i have friends who curse too. Some curse appropriately, in which i do too for the most cases (eheh... at least, i think i do), but some other just simply throw those words around without thinking. Several times, i've seen them cursing in front of their kids, both unintentionally and intentionally (thinking their kids are too young to understand what they are saying). But seriously, i guess they are hurtful words and things that hurt, unless they are virtually hurtful like blasting someone on Killzone Online, are bad - especially for kids... so please, tone down the bad words please. Dont curse just so you think you'll look cool doing it. Lay it off unless you do need it for anger/stress management or something. Or pretty much, dont curse at all.

After all, you kiss your mother with that *h***y-c**-g*****ing-***r*'s-**n*-****ing-***k-s****d mouth of yours? :p

How Creative is Creative?

2010-06-02T23:55:00.004+08:00

Delaqroux inc Updates!

How do we measure creativity? Okay, so that was random wasnt it? Well, this is the thing that i've been pondering since day one of my enrolment to Macq Uni's ENGL201: Intro to Creative Writing class. We have weekly seminars in which, from what it says in the unit outline, i figured it's gonna be fun coz we'll be doing writing workshops every week (workshops are practically sessions where you have people reading out their writing for the week and other people give their feedbacks on them). But after a couple of workshop sessions, i've come up with this question; how do you measure creativity?

There was this Australian girl in my classroom who came up with this writing about her 'other' self. People liked it. I thought it was boring. I mean seriously; "who is that in my room?", "why is she crying?", "how come she looks so familiar?". Well, friggin OBVIOUSLY, she's you in mirror. I figured that out on the first 10 seconds of her reading (though, of course, i didnt say anything). Everyone else claimed that, after she finished reading, that it was the best writing ever. One guy, not sure whether he was trying to hit on the girl or what, straight ahead claimed that he had no idea that the writer was talking about her own reflection. Wait, i figured that out before the first paragraph even manage to come to an end. So, we're having conflicting opinions here. Everyone, including the lecturer thought it was creative. I thought it was predictable. I dont want to call a writing in which i can predict what will be going on after reading the first line as being uncreative so i just kept my opinion to my own self and, like others, claimed that it was a good writing. It was a good writing after all. Just slightly too predictable for me. But, yeah, let's skip ahead to a couple weeks of workshops.

There was this another girl who shared a really emotional poem. And then there was this another short poem about self-discovery which was never found. And then they were a few more others of almost the same kind of mood. Everybody loves them though i am starting to fast lose my interest in listening to their works. I dont know why but people tend to associate creative writing as some kind of sad self-loathing pieces of writing work. Poems have to be sad and emotional and one liners. Essays have to be about not being able to uncover your inner self. Writings are about being self-loathing and talking about things that you cannot get or be. Seriously, what the hell? Finally, there was this one lady who is not of Australian origin who wrote a poem about her family in rhymes. The fact that her English wasnt that good didnt stop me from thinking that her poem is nice. Something happy and positive for a change. I mean, it's about her family; her husband and son and herself - what is there not to like? I find that she enjoyed doing it. I thought she really put herself in the poem. Well, everybody hates it. The lecturer said the rhymes were out of place and some lines were unnecessary. Everybody else hardly commented anything on it. During the feedback session, everyone just pretend they're not in the class. Seriously.

Then, during this another workshop, another friend of mine wrote a short story on gender stereotypes in an Indian family. I thought it was brilliant. Others didnt comment on it. The lecturer said that the whole introduction paragraph was unnecessary. She said; go straight to the point so that your readers dont lose interest. She said; there was too much details and the word choices overlaps one another (apparently, you cant say things "illuminous, bright lights" coz illuminious and bright means the same thing). I thought the first paragraph was as necessary as the whole writing itself. So I said; what the hell?! Since when does creative writing has to be constrained by what the readers want or do not want to read em? I thought writing creativelywas about expressing yourself, creating the mood, bringing your message across, writing like you mean it. But cut out a paragraph coz long, winded paragraph about the setting of the storyline will bore the readers out? Since when did i sign up for being a publisher in a teen manuscript publishing company?

Finally, the moment of truth finally came (Double "finally" there. Sorry :p). It was my turn to present something. I chose my best writing; a poem with rhymes in it and it talks about my philosophical idea of questioning people's mentality. To tell you the truth; it sounds abit hippie-ish, but still, i thought it was my best work. I loved it. But i guess those people are as predictable as some write up about yourself in the mirror. Coz they hated it. Their comment was hardly meaningful. The lecturer said i did a stupid move by writing in rhymes coz writing in rhymes are hard and you shouldnt do it. Yes, i know writing in rhymes are hard but i thought i sign up to this course coz i want to improve my writing. If my attempt to try something risky is replied with a comment " dont try risky things", then how am i to improve my writing? After some reflecting, i realized no one else tried writing in rhymes. Their poems are mainly one-liners which doesnt contain any rhyme - just sad tones. So those writing reflect a true attempt in writing creatively but mine doesnt? So those poems are creative and mine isnt? Is that it?

And about lines in creative writings being unnecessary or too beating-around-the-bushes-like, how do creative writings differ than formal writings then? I thought Stephen King wrote his novels with a hell lot of sentences just to describe one thing super-small but that is his style. Shakespeare wrote reference to the Phoebus and Errebhus and Arthemist in his writing and does that mean that guy is just beating around the bush? I heard people complaining about Watchmen and Fight Club to have a really slow pace in its storyline narration - shall we tell the author to speed things up abit so they dont lose their readers' interest? And i know i normally cite this source for all the negative reasons but personally, i thought Stephanie Mayer's Twilight is slow as hell and it was not realistic at all. But people liked it. People liked her style. As a reader, i can comment but i cant change the fact that Twilight is Twilight. No. That is just how those authors' style are! And if you dont want to call them of being creative, then call them boring in front of the thousands of fans who says that their writings are awesome. And if i am going to write my poem starting with the first line "I like candies" and the second line "I like to fuck", and the following lines is the word "quack.... quack.... quack...." then no one should be able to stop me. Coz there is hidden annotation in both of those lines and if you dont get it; then you're the one not being to think beyond the text, arent you? SInce when does creative writing has to be readers-oriented? I am writing my own piece of work here so if being creative means that my reader couldnt understand what i am writing about, so be it!

So here's my final say for the evaluation to my ENGL201 Unit. I hate it.

Play Feed the Head. People call the game shitty. I call that creative.

Of Newtown and Demon Jacket

2010-05-30T10:39:00.004+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates!

If there is one place worth checking out while you're in Sydney, it'll be New town! Yep, it's New town. They sell old stuff and old stuff are cheap. Cheap stuff are good and good, cheap stuff might have demons inside. Yeah, demons.

I was in Newtown the other day, browsing the streets when I came across this shop called Vinnies. Innocently, i thought Vinnies stands for "vintage" and that probably the shop owner is a chinese girl acting cute and calling everything they own with the suffix "-ie" (Sorry Nancie, calling your laptop lappie dont make it be no puppie... damn, i rap bitchIEz!). Anyways, it turned out that Vinnies stands for St Vincent and it's a secondhand clothing (and some random odds and ends) shop that sells things which are donated by people of the church.. probably. So yeah, note for all shopaholics out there; if you love to buy stuff and yet you feel guilty spending your money, go shop in charity shops coz every dollar you spend on unnecessary clothings pieces and creepy looking teddies will go for charity. And trust me, when you're in that kind of place (unless you're a hygienic fella who wouldnt want to wear second hand stuffs), you tend to want everything coz everything is cheap and you're spending money like it's actually someone's business! Who says Greed cant be good?

And, yeah, if you're looking for suits, that place have a hell lot of em. Probably some Italian mafia group decided to turn some good leaves that they all donated their suits to charity. Hmmm...

So, back to the demon story. There was two things that caught my eye in that shop. One, is the unusually cute girl inside that shop who was suspiciously interested in this thingy that curls your hair up. Second, is this really awesome looking, leather jacket. Not the black, light reflecting kind of leather jacket, but one that you can actually feel its softness. It's not fuzzy or like but yeah, it feels leather-ish - like you're touching the skin of a horse. Regardless, i thought a jacket that awesome would cost a fortune that i ended up ignoring it. But later on, i saw another almost as awesome jacket with the price tag of 15 dollars (that right! 15 dollars!) and what did i do? No, i didnt buy it. I went back to the previous awesome leather jacket. And the price tag says 40 dollars. Now, kids, 40 dollars would cost this guy a week worth of spending and i am a very cheapskate guy. But a jacket that awesome, you just gotta bought it even if the price tag says 40.

So, i bought that awesome jacket (and determined to fast for the whole next week) and immediately as i bought it, i put it on. Now, i dont do this at all. This is entirely NOT me. I dont buy things and immediately wear them unless they're really kickass or my current clothing is wet but this awesome jacket, my friend, as instantly as it gets on me, it is as exactly how beyond awesome it is. Anyways, there i got myself an awesome jacket and i call it "awesome jacket"

Regardless, i have realized something unusual about this jacket. I tend to put it on for absolutely no reason, even when i least expect it. And when i do, i went in front of a mirror and look at myself and i hear someone whispering in my hear "Weaaaaarrrr meeeeee.....". Okay, so all those whispering is a figure of speech but seriously, i just kept getting hypnotized to wear that jacket, go in front of the mirror, look at myself, touch its ridiculously comfy texture, snap back to reality, and put it back into the closet... only to repeat it a few hours later. One time, i thought it was just the jacket's awesome aura but now, i'm starting to think that the jacket has some kind of demon encrypted within it. Not the bad demon though - an awesome one (coz you know, the jacket is still awesome regardless).

Anyways, maybe this has happened to everyone else who have just bought something awesome to wear. But if you ended up constantly wearing it for absolutely no reason but to look yourself in the mirror, then i think your wear might be demon possessed too. Til then, if you see me out with an awesome jacket, that might not be me. That, my friends, might be the awesome demon finally have able to take over me.

Reappear with some loads of Randomness

2010-04-20T12:07:00.003+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates...

Jeez.. it's been ages since i last said that. Guess many moons have passed since i actually posted something to my own blog (i went with the direct translation of "moons" being "bulan" - not "nights".so yeah, so many months have passed :p) What happened was that i have been really really busy with.... wait.... uh... what was i busy with again?

So let's just have a quick recap of what have been happening so far.

First of all, i have cut my hair! Voila. No hairo supremo! And not just a haircut - a complete shave, baby! Right clean outta my skin, bitch3zzz.... sob... sob... i missed my old hair... "Then, why did i go for the shave?" Well, coz it's the World's Greatest Shave day yet again. For those who doesnt know what day this is, no, it's a not a day where people who are awesome shave their hair (well, half of that is true for my case, i suppose) but it's a charity thingy where a corporate organization will organize a hair shave or colour campaign for the public. And for every member of the public going for the shave, they will designate a particular amount for money for the leukemia foundation. So, it's fairly easy coz you dont have to pay anything but you just gotta be brave and shave. Trust me; to have all your hair shaved off - it's really depressing. But to be diagnosed with leukemia and having your hair shaved off as well - imagine how depressing would that be like. Plus, i kinda have this acquaintance of mine who has just been hospitalized for L. I dont really know her that well but it's still excruciating knowing someone you know is sick. So, yeah, Stephanie, hope you're getting well right this moment as we speak =)

Aaanyways, what else? Uh.... well, i'm also currently in charge of script writing for MGM. That stands for Malam Gema Malaysia (event name subject to change) and yeah, it's basically a night where Malaysian in Sydney gather in commemoration of the Malaysian Day (it's used to be of the independence day instead but we thought of a new twist of 1Malaysia this year =) and people watch a musical that the MGM committee put. And trust me; with our new line of committee and our superb planning; it's gonna be legend... wait for it.... oh, yeah, i'm addicted to How I Met Your Mother. Good show. Putting that aside however, the storyline i'm assigned to write the script to is... well... quite a melancholic storyline. For someone who loves randomness and happy things (side note; for my life assignment; i wrote about being an English teacher in a zombie apocalyptic world... hah! =D), i hate having sad thoughts (oh, another side note; i'm currently staying free of the emo image now - being emotional sucks balls - let's stick with chaos and destruction; they're the happier stuffs! :3) and yeah, writing the script is super hard coz well, you cant be too happy to write a sad script down. Yet, you cant be too sad or you'll end up writing the script on your wrist witha penknife and blood. Ergh...

Oh and random thoughts, i met this girl back in IPBA 2007, i think she's really cute and considerably hot in Malay girl scaling system but i seriously think her boyfriend's a major douchebag... worse than a douchebag! His boyfriend's a dick! Wait, even better; he's a douchedick. There! I've finally friggin blog about you! Not mentioning names here but, Fucking Bryant, you know who you are! And i want you to die a slow painful death!

Okay, okay, what eeeeelse.... I finished Killzone2, i moved out of MUV to a really awesome garage-bedroom, I finished 20 out of 100 of the Australian must-do list, I'm having this sore-throat and somehow i think it has something to do with a steam-emitting train, a cockatoo, Szechuan chicken and Melbourne (yesh, i revisited Melbourne last hols.. whaaduuupp!!), I've met your mother, I'm addicted to Timbaland yet again with "If we ever meet again) and... Oh, another good one. Just recently, we had the fellas from Welli and Auckland over to Sydney! Yayness! And..... well... yyeah... that's it. What else? Uh.... You know how funny it is when you think about blogging so many randomness and when you actually blogging, nothing pops out of your head? I guess that's all about it. Will keep you uploaded. And please, if you're actually reading this, please consider this; when you meet fucking Bryan, show him the middle finger please... it's for the good of mankind. Or just kill him for me. Better.

Til then, this is

Dark A. Delaqroux

signing out! =)

Double Life

2010-02-12T23:38:00.002+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates.

Why do i have "John Smith" as my username on Facebook? Well, the truth isjust as i have explained beforehand, it was just out of curiosity on whether is it possible to have your name changed on facebook. Couldnt think of anything else to replace my current username so i put in John Smith. Turned out that it is possible and i am just lazy to change it back to my previous one. The figuratively-speaking kind of answer is that John Smith have almost the same implication as John Doe, someone of the male gender who's true identity is unknown both to the public and sometimes even to himself. So yeah, I am John Smith, i live a lot of different lives, and in some points in time, i have no idea who i actually am.

There's many version of my life and just thinking about it make my heart pound in a very uncomfortable way and my gut feeling like going inside-out. When the thought comes, normally i take a deep breath and try to think of something else. But at times, it just comes so fast that i immediately force myself to immediately terminate those thoughts. And trust me; at first it feels uncomfortable, shifting a thought so fast. Later on, it hurts, literally. And again, trust me; writing this down is really painful. And what hurts the most is when i cant let everyone know what kind of multiple lives i'm having and i dont even have a standardized lie - there was never one.

I like exploring different things in life, go to places people never even dreamed off, love things that other claims forbidden and think of things in ways that others dont. And to sum it up, things that i do, did, love, hate, believe etc. normally does not go along well with the society's mainstream of cynical and not to mention, not-that-supportive thoughts. So when it comes to a simple question like "what are you planning to do tomorrow" or "what are you up to", i cant give out an honest answer. If i tell you "i dont know", chances are that i am lying to you and i'm truly sorry for that but i simply cant tell you the truth.

They say that a lie lead to another and the chain goes on and on. But for my case, as much as i wish to break it off, i cant. The chain of lies been protecting me. Tried breaking it off a couple of times before and letting the real me breathe real air for once. As a result, I had me under some stupid counselling session for some bizarro reason and in one case, the left side of my forehead bleeding and in another, almost had a family torn apart in front of me (and the family wasnt even mine - that's the worst part). Oh, and speaking of tearing families apart - one hidden life of mine will break another family apart if i let the truth exposed. Scary isnt it? So if you had experienced what i have, you might be conditioned to keep the lies flowing on and on. It's like putting a real ugly mask on your face to protect an even uglier face and soon you start to forget how you actually look like under the mask and at some point, you find it suffocating you.

Hiding it suffocates you. But denying it impales you. Just recently, i have been laughing and joking around alot. Mainly coz i have to interact with people around and i simply cant have them see the real me. It was nice to force yourself to forget your own problems every now and then and laugh like you have no care in the world. I dont deny that it makes me happy and keeps me alive for another day. But now that i am here in my room again, i'm back to square one with those problem in my head and those laughters i had seems super far away. Maybe i'll try and meet and interact with people again tomorrow. Dont think having a couple more days of denial will hurt. Well, at least, dont think it will hurt that bad.

So, yeah, here i am.
Yours untruthfully

Hi, i'm Dark. And I am a Racist!

2010-01-31T16:29:00.002+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates.

First of all, credits go to the youtube video entitled "RE5 is racist" (Well, the guy dubbing the voice over Chris Redfield was saying something similar like, "Hi, I'm Chris Redfield. I shoot black zombies - i am a racist *smiles*"). And as a side note here, i dont shoot anyone (yet) and me being racist or not in this blogpost is entirely up to you to judge. And whatever came out from your judging, well, i dont care. Now roll em some sushis!

Anyways, this is just a response to what i have observed whilst staying overseas and yeah, it pretty much concern you and you who are studying overseas and being mightily paranoid to the outside world coz everyone outside of Malaysia is racist. Well, i cant deny the fact that some of us, let's just say in this case; Asians, are multiple times being punk3d by someone else - be it slammed on sidewalk, jeered by a passing by car, harassed by sexual remarks, thrown with water, being jeered at while minding your own business etc. And all these cases have one thing in common. It involve us, Asians as the victim and non-Asians as the harasser. So can we call these sample cases as non-Asians being racist towards Asian? To simply put in a way, I am studying in Australia and those victimized are Asians in Australia - do i have the right to say that Aussies, whether it be "all Aussies" or "some Aussies" or "a small/large number of Aussies", are racist?

Well, in my opinion, we often mistook anger with whatever it is around us that can bring the biggest, most hurtful downfall of those who've angered us, and at the same time, instantly putting us at a higher ground, free from all assaults or counter-attacks and getting the support of everybody else (And i do know better; i thought of nuking those who pisses me off everytime). Calling something as an example of racism can immediately mark the lesser of two evils. In other words, if you call someone being racist, you immediately imply to everyone around you that that 'racist' bugger's a jerk and you're the innocent victim... and... holy shit... this guy is dancing break dance to Vannessa's "Thousand Miles"... uh... yeah, whatever that is that i was saying before.

Okay maybe i brought that point a lil too early. let's put some sample cases that i've experienced before. First sample case; here i was, minding my own business in a club in Sydney and i was poured with a stray-flying beer. Well, it wasnt really stray-flying beer coz i do know who threw it at me and the guy noticed that i was his victim. He saw me being drenched and we stared at one another for 2 seconds right after i was splashed. Alrighty, let's put that case aside; i was one day walking along George Street in CBD, when a guy, walking on the opposite direction slammed me hard on the shoulder. I didnt see his face but something tells me it wasnt just an accidental clash of shoulders. His share of the clash was super-strong and obviously intentional. Immediately, i turned around and look at the guy and he was looking at me as well. Putting that second case aside for a lil while, i bring you my third sample case; i was at Macq centre one day doing my sponsorship search and i was actually enjoying the shop-by-shop stop even though some instantly rejected. But when i was at this shop, i hadnt even started explaining anything and the guy at the counter, without saying anything, just shook his head and signal'd me to piss off. I tried explaining what exactly am i doing and that fella gave me a stare for a couple of seconds before.... Finally, in our last case, i was in the train with a couple of friends when a couple of drunk looking teens start getting in the train, start acting all rowdy and loud, and among their shouts and taunt, they called "Oi! Chop sticks!"

Okay, so we have sample case A, B and C and i purposely omitted the outcome of each event. Which one do you predict is and can be regarded an act of racism? Put your bets in boys and girls, and let me take you to the deeper details of those cases.

Case A. The guy who splashed me with beer ended up laughing at me and said "Sorry, mate. That's a free beer for you" and laughed really, really loudly. Some of his friends laughed as well.
Case B. I immediately said "whoa, sorry" and looked at the guy, expecting an apology as well (or at least a glance) but the guy, uncertain whether he heard my apology or not, came towards me, head tilted slightly upwards and said "what? you said something? you have a problem with me?"
Case C. The guy, which is actually a lady (what a twist!), widened her eyes and started screaming on top of her lungs in something but i couldnt make out what she was saying (coz she got me freaked out obviously)
Case D. Well, there's not much details to cover accept when the guy yell out "Oi! Chop sticks!" referring to an Asian passenger not to far away from him, the Asian guy took no heed and the guy who yelled, didnt do anything else but continue screaming randomly.
And now, the biggest revealation; the case A and D guy is an Australian. Case B guy and Case C lady are Asians. If you have predicted any of the three cases earlier to be racist. Does this and the previous details make you change your mind?

Okay, so i'm not gonne give any straight answers to which sample case as a sample of racism at work or otherwise. But let me just break things down in terms of my own opinion and you do the thinking. For case A, i cant say anything to comment anything about what that Aussie guy did. He could have splashed the beer accidentally while he was dancing or he could have purposely splashed it at me coz out of all the people dancing on the floor, i am among the very few Asians there. And of course, he gave a friendly apology but he might have not meant it even the tinniest bit. So can i say he is being racist? Or it was entirely an accident and when he apologized, he did it in a very friendly way. For Case B, the guy clearly slammed me on purpose and was looking for a fight. I bet he was already in a super bad mood and he is looking for a fight. I put a good bet on this case for having no trace of racism coz, well, he is an Asian and i am an Asian - that makes his action as being very, very unacceptable but obviously he's not being racist; he's just being a dick. For Case C, the Chinese lady wasnt pleased with me coming to her shop and not intending to purchase anything but looking for a trace of generosity. Probably she take me as a fraud or something (of course, i have an official letter with me but anyone can pull that trick off) and i cant blame her for that. But the fact that she ended up yelling at me in Chinese, that is something. She might have thought i am a Chinese but that doesnt stop the fact that she didnt use English to shoo-ed me off. For Case D, it seems clear that he is being racist. Or maybe he isnt? He could have just been playful. I mean, he was screaming randomly around teh train and all and though what he yelled was a depiction of stereotype, it still could just be something playful like me calling some random Indian guy in Malaysia "macha" and and Chinese guy "Tokeh"

So yeah, that's it. I know some of you out there will easily mark Case A and/or D as a case of racism. Why? Coz the ones harassing are not the same race with the victims. But as a thought here; are we being too judgemental? I mean, come on; i have Australian jeering at an Asian lady friend of mine as they drove by. But i witnessed an Asian friend of mine jeered at a lady (not sure she was Asian or not though) as we drove by her. Are we mistaking something so obvious as sexism with difference in nationality and call it racism instead? And, considering the sample cases above, if i am a Malay and i say out loud "Dont promise like a Malay" (Jangan buat janji Melayu), am i being racist towards my own race? If such thing doesnt exist, then a whole wide array of insults is free from any charges and i am free to say what i want, regardless if it's racially insulting or not, as long as i confine the insult directing to my own race (and trust me, i would love that). And yeah,like i said, we often take anger to take the better of our judgement skill. There is logic, of course, but when we are being angered, we instantly aim and shoot anything most obvious to counter the insults - and in this case, the fact of the harassment being an inter-national one. Maybe we shouldnt be over-judgemental, maybe we should stop name calling, or maybe we can simply stop being judgemental at all.

If someone just shown an act of total dick at you. Please, try not to show the world yours.

2009 Flashbaxx

2010-01-24T11:50:00.003+08:00

Delaqroux inc Updates!!

And first of all, HAPPY NIU YAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!! **shoots out fireworks from hand Bioshock-style**

Okay, i know it's been way off new year already but i dont care. I've just been lazy to post up stuff and there's nothing you can do about it coz i'm still Aussie and you're probably somewhere on earth and you cant reach me. Anyways, yep, to be precise, it's 24th January now so yeah, good stuff. Let's have a quick recap on what has been happening last year so we all can laugh at poor old Darkie appropriately.

First things first, I am in Aussie after all. Yay me. Last year, all of us IPBArians took off to respective universities overseas and yeah, good stuff. What happen next? Not so good stuff; there was some slight issue about staying mixed genders in one house. I still remember how annoyed i was coz the time when i first reach MUV and managed to settle down, i went to sleep on my nice, new comfy bed. That's when someone came to knock my door, meet up next door and had a discussion on the matters at hand. There is no matter at hand dammit! You're studying in overseas now, so be glad about it or God gonna be angry and i'm forced to carry out his wrath by assassinating you people. Geez.

Anyways, fast forward to March, university starts and it was pretty funky. I loved O-Week so much as it shows how Malaysia is not alone in the multi-cultural diversity category, Aussie is too. So, yeah, i joined all the clubs i can get my hands on and it was all good. But among the biggest highlights were the Baha'i society where meditating never felt so good, and my first independent outing to Blue Mt. with students entirely from China. The communication barrier was definitely there but hey, it was fun being able to do your thing with unknown people every now and then. So, uh... what else... Oh yeah, Hillsong concerts, homosexuals running wild along York St. (Mardi gras), Canberra. Earth Hour. All good stuff (Been saying this for the multiple-th time havent i?)

After the Blue Mt. outing, i realized that good things actually comes to those who ventures and being me who's almost in boredom 24/7, i walked all the way from Macq uni to Sydney city with Enid Cheah. Enid who? Just some random girl i met while i went out for Hunter valley trip with I-Club. iClub what? oh, just some random clubs i joined that also took me earlier to Port Stephens. Yeah, i spend awhole lot of cash on April alone that i thought maybe i should concentrate on trying to stay put.

And that's when we comes to classes. Well, it should have come earlier but nevermind. Classes are also good... cool stuff. William De Jean, to me, win the funkiest lecturer with funkiest teaching methodology award, Matt Bower who taught us teaching methodology using technology had his own Matt Bower Fan Club and LING211 is like studying how the world was first formed. It doesnt make sense and it makes us question more, only to get clueless even more than ever before. But concentrating on classes took only a few weeks before ol Darkie to get bored again and thus he ventured to Melbourne on a 20 hours train ride with Risa. At the end of the month, Darkie was officially broke-r than ever.

Gee.. Looking back at May, nothing really happened. Well, to no surprises there, i was broke now didnt i? At this point, i noticed everyone started buying tickets back to Malaysia. It was for the end of year break but i thought they are actually going back to Malaysia on the July break instead. Hence, figuring that i may end up alone in Australia, i got my ticket to go venture somewhere further, deep to the land of the unknown... and sheeps, hell lot of em; New Zealand!
That was when i figured out the truth that they;re not going nowhere for July.. Oh crap.

June was also a month where nothing really happened except for the fact that people started going wild on dance practices for some TONG event (i still have no idea what TONG stands for), we had our second group outing to Reptile Park and i went back on a solo train ride to Sydney to catch movie by the wharf of Darling Harbour with Risa. Yeah, the environment was good, the drinks were good, the company was good but the movie... they shown Twilight. That is when i decided that i wanna be a werewolf. Screw vamps! Oh, i'm sorry, i thought back in my days, vampires sucks blood.. how come now they suck **** (An Anti-Twilight group on facebook, 2010). Anyways, there was also this funky night light event call Vivid Sydney and at that moment of time, i learned that Sydney can be funky when you're at the right time and at the right place. Sydney's boring? It is if you spend every day of your stay cooped up in your pile of hay. Forward to July and voila! Darkie's Live in NZ!! Yay me.!

Yay me. NZ was good but i had to cancel out my whole southwards trip during my stay. Let's just say something popped out and i got very, very pissed. Thought of going back straight to Sydney right after but what the hell, thought i might give Wellington a peek. It turned out Wellington is extremely awesome! I love the place so much to a point that i lost my own identity. Um.. Literally. Yeah, i lost my passport at Coffee and Tea, the coolest coffee hangout joint ever!! Imagine a place with very dim lighting. A picture of conception on its walls, wanted and concert posters on the other, an oldskool pinball machine at one corner and a large demonic statue hung on the wall bearing the sign of a human puppeteer! And did i mention that play heavy metal music all night long? Oh, btw, i lost my passport.

With the help of someone from the malaysian embassy, i managed to get back to AUssie in time before my class starts in August. But upon my arrival, everything died down. Had a few offers from Cohort 5 for me to join their dancing group for Mfest but as i'm not a dancing person, i turned that down. I do dance of course but just not cultural ones. Anyways, had a couple of outing with Risa and her mates and i soon discovered more funky hangout places in Sydney. I was missing Wellington terribly but hey, Sydney's not all that bad in the lepak category. just gotta know the right places.

On September, things go wild again. The plan me and Alia had for Tasmania was finally executable and although they stick to the safer heights, i took a hike. Yep, Marion Lookout point at Cradle Mt., 1300 metres above sea level. Had a few moments where i could have died tumbling down while i was hiking but it was allll good. Then there was Mfest but i dont think i can say much stuff coz i'm nothing but just a spectator. And then there was the fasting month of Radhaman (South Park joke) where the first few days of fasting, i put myself on the 40 Hours Famine challenge with no food, no electricity and no water challenge. The 40 hour challenge went on for 44 hours instead due to the fasting but still, there's just something i learned that i think it shouldnt be shared in this post coz it's gonna take the whole article. Anyways, went for a church conference camp at Cornerstone during the fasting month and i really enjoyed the company regardless to the fact that i cant eat during lunch hours. But at the end of September, Conception day kicks in at Macquarie uni and Wolfmother performed. Wildest concert ever in my life so yeah, the opening of Raya is all good in Aussie.

Still not off the September line up, i spend my first day of Raya in Malaysian Hall but makan-makan is such a cliche. we decided to get raya to the next Aussie level by taking a dip at Coogee Beach. We always heard about people in Santa suits taking a swim during christmas at the beaches but i bet they never have had people in Baju Melayu going for a splash on Raya day. Beat that! Anyways, second day of raya and we had open house in my place at it was quite a huge turn-out despite i was totally against the idea of having the event at my place. But nah, it was all great stuff!

Considering the fact that i was fast falling broke on all the past months outing, i found October to be a month to remember as well. At first things went pretty dull but let's just say i never expect that **TRANSMISSION LOST**

Going on to November, things go pretty well. I've managed to get into iClub event organizing team and i've become publisher for the 2010 Malaysian Students Association. The first event organizing in both club respectively went really really awesome and i've met a whole lot of new friends (dont take me wrong, i'm not an eternal optimist- i met a few whom i figure that i will never like either). And another thing worth highlighting is the Karaoke outing with some Cohort 5 members. It was a bunch of cool lot without the boring bits and yeah, it was awesome.

December yields out more funky stuff now that examinations are over in late November. First of all, i get to crossed out Brisbane of the to-do list, i've runned across the city dressed in a Santa suit with thousands more Santa (trust me, it was a stampede!), I've cut my nice long hair T__T, and we celebrated Christmas by the beach with a special guest from NZ namely Mr Shogi Hamannop. Oh yeah, and i have also moved out of MUV and i've got a PS3! You know what this all means? YES! I'm broke.. again. Anyways, with that last bit ounce of money, i still managed to get myself in position for the world famous Harbour Bridge fireworks show on NYE 2009! Imagine the 10 hours wait just to see a 10 minute fireworks! I dunno how have i manage to stay anticipated with that long of a wait but yeah, it is all good stuff.

And so ladies and gentlemen, we've come to the end of our 2009 recap.. well.. my 2009 recap. There are of course many things that happen between the lines and these are simply things that happen on the surface level. But regardless, i had a good year with good and bad up and downs. With just another more year in Sydney and two more years before the Mayan claim that the world gonna tear apart, let's try to make every second of 2010 worthwhile ne? Happy New Year peeps!

Wet, wet Christmas!

2009-12-27T20:28:00.002+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates

I guess it's been quite a number of times when i make a blogpost and began them with something about not making a blogpost for quite awhile but yeah, once again dear ladies and gentlemen, it has been awhile now hasnt it? Anyways, maybe i should just do a quick recap on what have been going on around here.. I'm not sure if i have made such notification in my past post (and i;m too lazy too check them out) but Macquarie University is having a long summer holidays. As anticipating as it may sound, it may not be so for me as i am extremely, utterly broke right now... and no, my ps3 (still) has nothing to do with it.

Anyways, i ended up getting some odd jobs here and there. One of them is a pet-sitter. Yeah, that's how i roll for dough; i watch a watch dog. No, seriously. I'm given the job to watch over Mike Knutsson, an eight year old german shepherd. While he's still a puppy, Mike's already as big as a german shepherd can get! (Gave me a pounce when i first came over and i almost tumble off the sidewalk..). But unfortunately, Eva and John's on a holiday trip and they took Mike with them - thus, no job for ol' Darkie. But then i got a job as a cleaner for Mrs. Lee residence. As hard as i tried, i really think i suck at total cleanliness. For some reason, it took me ages just to clean windows. While Mrs. Lee does not complain, i'm really eating off my wages with a lil bit of guilty conscience - just being paranoid that i'm not really doing a good job to deserve such a good money.

Anyways, fastforward back to the future (w00t! oxymorons! just gotta love em!), despite me being broke, i managed to end myself up in Brisbane! Yep, one more place crossed out of the Aussie map! It wasnt that long of a trip as i had it entirely impromptu - wasnt planning on going at all earlier, only to get a flight ticket few days before the actual flight there. It was also a short stay as i wasnt planning on bothering anyone on giving me a room for me to crash in. Also, a longer stay means a higher vulnerability for lost items so yep, reminiscing the good ol days when i lost my passport in Wellington, New Zealand, maybe i shouldnt push my luck (or stay) that far. But still, it was all awesomeness to be there.

So, now we're back to the post title: Yep, following up to our last wacky idea on spending the first day of Eidulfitri being wet and wild in Coogee Beach, we decided to celebrate 2k9's first day of Christmas with a double dose of the last action; being wetter and wilder in Manly Beach and Bondi Beach (the initial plan was to check out Coogee once again but excessive dips in the two beaches made the time flew by without any slightest notice). So yep, Shogi, Jeniffer and Intan was with me. Yes, it may sound odd as, while i may have Shogi as my common lepaking companion, i rarely had Jeniffer and Intan with me. Well, let's just say i kinda realized that despite some major outings and activities some of us had, some of 'us' are kind of left out of it. I dunno if this is intentional or whatyever (and i dunno pretty give much rats about it considering that i'm out of em all the way) but hey, why not get some odd company out and have some quirkiest, but most enjouable time ever rather than hanging out with the same ol, same ol all the time? That's how i end up having fun with all the companies i've made in Aussie here and why not re-rotate the circle of randomness all over again now that my old companies are gone? (Yeah, they are all mostly studying in Aussie only for a period of two semester... bummer) So, yep, it's Jeniffer's first outing in Aussie and, as we might not be able to have a white christmas thanks to the absence of snow in Australia, why not have a white Christmas wet? Hell, yeah! Just gotta love em, beach3zzz!!!

Oh right, and just a lil notification here; Christmas in Aussie can get real weird and random. Despite the many Santa's hat-wearing surfers, beach lovers and island girls (on skimpy, red bikini-esque Mrs.Santa-gone-bad swimming suit) on today's outing, i also joined Variety's Santa run for fund activity recently in the city. It's pretty much a fund raising activity as the name implied but all participant can get the chance to run along the streets of Sydney dressed as Santa claus in a whole ocean of other Santa-participants. Total random stuff but it was one helluva good time!

Well, that's pretty much all of the update for now. It;s funny how i always seem to be able to type down my blogpost without actually doing any thinking but now that it comes to the closing, i always end up spending long, long minutes thinking of how should i actually end things. Anyways, let's just hope more posts are on their way and i'll catch u all soon. Till then, Merry Christmas and happy new year! =)

Part-time Hitman looking for assassinating work

2009-12-08T09:00:00.002+08:00

Hello,

My name is Dark A. Delaqroux, and i'm looking for a part time assassinating work as i have plenty of time to kill (pun joke intended here). I specialized in slow, painful death and torture so, those who might already have their target in custody but needing to get valuable information out of them, i can surely be of help in this case. Due to this specialty, i can also work for psychos/lunatics/or simply fine ladies and gentlemen out there who enjoys their evening tea with a little dash of saddistic pleasure as they get their victim brutalized first before the murder. However, i can also get the jobs involving instant kills done marvellously as well.

I am also skilled in on-scene use of tools for assassination. Therefore, you do not need to provide assassinating equipments unless on a special request (lesser blood, lesser evidence, easier body disposal etc.). In other words, i can use a vast array of tools to get the job done, ranging from guns, knives, blunt weapons to screwdrivers, crayons (toxic ones) and Twilight DVD. My rates are flexible but perhaps around $10 per head. Additional cost may apply if disposal of bodyguards, pets, spouse, family members etc. is seen necessary on-site or if the target puts up more resistance (though expect very little as my kills are often done in stealth).

But as a side note here, as how you might have experienced with other assassin's out there, i, too, am prone with the temptation of betrayal. In other words, i may turn my back on you and kill you instead if your target re-hire me to kill you with a more generous offer. As much regret as i have to say this; i really recommend highly generous tippings to avoid such circumstances to occur. Of course, you can always consider a re-re-hire if such circumstances is inevitable.

Please leave me a message if you're interested to have me kill someone you're uninterested in leaving them alive and i can negotiate the details with you. I look forward to working with and killing for you. Thanks.

Dark A. Delaqroux.

A Safety Reminder for Cohort 5

2009-11-26T22:20:00.003+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates

You might think that this would have been a note for the oncoming exam. Well, no it's not but it's still as important as hell. So if exam's your main priority at the moment, you might wanna skip this note (though i really recommend that you give it a read at least after the exams). Otherwise, please take some time out and read.

A member from our cohort has been followed by some guy while she was walking alone along Epping Rd at around 6.30pm. There's some chances that this is just a case of paranoia but if something tells me that it could be for real, i rather bet my ass on being paranoid than being sorry. But listening to the story from her, i wish i can believe it is a case of false alarm but my gut is telling me it could be some loon of a girl-stalker guy for real - not to mention the stories i heard on what've happened along Epping rd, a 25th November newspaper article about some unpleasant cases at Epping, and the public's call for more police patrol cars along Epping (pretty close to Marsfield). So it could have been some lunatic or it could just be a coincidental guy following the same trail as you, but seriously, how many of us really take into consideration about our own safety when we're actually putting ourselves at risk without even realizing it?

So yeah, the nag begins here; i'm made aware that some of us, cohort 5 (the girls mainly), still made it a habit on walking alone right after sun down. You may insist that you might have just been walking on a very short distance at that time but if one of us here was being followed by some loonwhile the sun is still up and she was walking just a short distance as well - i really, really advice you not to take chances on walking alone when it's dark. If you would say that you dont always walk alone - you have a few others with you; i do agree that that's a good point but walking with just another girl or two in the middle of the night, i still think that isnt much of a prevention measure. If you gonna say you've been doing this walk-alone-at-night all this while and nothing happened, well, God-bless on your luck so far. But, seriously, please think about your safety more than just simply getting to places you want to go regardless of what time or situation you're in. Go ahead and throw any other refutes you have at me but if you can recall a news link posted by Flo about some Malaysian female student in Melbourne getting mugged and beaten at 12pm, you might want to consider a point i'm trying to make here.

So, please, it takes some very hard lesson to kill an old habit and in this case, i never would want anything to happen to my friends just coz they cant shake off the habit of walking home/somewhere alone. For those living away from others, please have the emergency line phone numbers right in your head at all times. If you really need to walk after dark, please have at least a guy or two accompanying you - not just another girl or two. And i do read an article that says girls have this habit of walking while talking on the phone, and the article dont recommend this even for the slightest bit. Walking while talking on the phone, having an MP3 earphone in your ears, walking at a relaxed pace, walking while humming or singing etc. exhibits hints of vulnerability. You're suggesting to the eyes around you that you are not aware of your surroundings (and chances that you probably are) and thus, suggesting you're an easier target for some loon to target you. Finally, if you can remember a recommendation made by some dude during our predeparture briefing on self safety - telling you to stop and pretend that you're tying your shoelace when you notice you're being followed; i dare say that is the shittiest dumbest stuff i've ever heard. Stopping is just gonna narrow down the distance between you and your follower, UNLESS you stopped while there are people around and wait for the guy to walk past you. Otherwise, if you do know there is an area close to you with more people around, just hasten up your pace and change your route off from the lonely street to the more crowded area altogether.

On a last note, please at least take some time to read articles, buy safety equipments or watch videos on some sort of self-defense measures if you can get your hands on any. Get some friends to practice it with you, or just sit down for a tad bit and discuss on what kind of measures you can do to keep yourself safe (i know you guys do tazkirahs and stuff all the time and i'm sure you can make one space to have some discussion on this matter). Listen to other's experience and advice and dont ever take them lightly (like this blogpost as well). Please be safe wherever you guys and girls are and just remember, the world is only a safe place to be when you know how to keep yourself safe at all times. That is all. As a final word; touch wood.

-Ad
Your Nick Frost wannabe..

Update @ 11.50PM

2009-11-26T20:51:00.002+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates!!

Yep, its been awhile hasnt it? In fact, long loooong while. Well, apart from reviews and Delaqroux lil updates on his wee bits of two cents, there isnt much update on my life. So i thought, might as well have one for a lil bit. Oh, and for those avid readers of my blog who have been conditioned to expect a badass, pissed off blogpost made by me after a long, long absence; well, fear not for i am not at all pissed, moody, unhappy, emo etc. In fact, life's been good. Of course, there's been up and downs. Smile, laugh, curse like @#$%, smile, laugh, curse like @#$%, repeat, repeat and repeat but at the point of me making my blogpost here i am currently around 14 hours to my LING216 exam, i've pretty much covered my revision and thought i'm just gonna cruise the last 14 hours here with a lil coke and some sunshine. Well.. figuratively. It's 12am here. No sunshine. But, nah, good enough.

So here's a bit of recap from where i left off... Hmmm... Well, that's some pretty long stretch of flashbacks. Okay, first things first; Tassie trip when DEVILish!!! (No pun intended). The Mountain Lodge was good though i kinda feel that i havent covered much of Tassie with just a dropoff at Launceston and a stay at Cradle Mt Lodge for two nights. But it turned out that Launceston is a nice piece of suburb (my definition of a good suburbian area; plenty of pubs and live music, good eating places, next to the beach/dockside/lake, plenty of mountain sceneries), the shuttle guy Gabriel decided to take us for some extra sight-seeings (one monumental village and another that host Tasmania's renowned mural painting competition, and a really awesome restaurant + inn in the middle of the vast, vast meadows). And apart the mountainside being rainy, we managed to conquer the 3 hours Dove Lake circuit and as a lil extra, i managed to hike 300 metres to Marion Lookout Point, summing up a total of 1200 metres above sea level. I was feeling a lil down for not being able to cover awhole lot of ground in Tassie, but if you cant cover it on foot, conquer it from the skies - and being on 1230 metres above sea level, you can bet how skytall i felt. Pure Awesomeness!!

And as a side note; Marion Lookout is next to Devil's Horn, Cradle Mt's highest peak (1600metres), something tells me i will be standing on top of that peak one day - coz i plan to.

So what eeeeelse... Things been a lil bit hectic with me running low on cash and trying to survive with MUV cutting my last bits of cash for rents (even had 2 months worth of overdue payment in the end), but with the next stock of allowance flowing back in my NAB bloodstream, i was back on track!!!!.... only to end up spending a hell lot on unnecessary things, outings and even waking up one morning with a contract of a new home, 21 inch flat-screen TV, a 140 watt speaker set and A FLIPPING PLAYSTATION 3 in my room!!!! Seriously, whattatuist!!?? (what a twist!!??). Yes, i'm back to square one. Gonna be broke bad soon. But oh well, at least i've played the last installment of Metal Gear Solid and i've discovered the truth behind The Patriots and Snake.. like, whoah.. SNAAAAAAEEEEKKKKEEEE!! A 600 dollars cash well-spent, Darkie.. Good Job! **claps hand for ownself** Good job... Oh, and as a lil bit of addition in keeping myself pumped with adrenalin and purely unnecessary running-around-s, i've made myself a Publisher for Malaysian Student Association and Event committee candidate for International Student Club. Both of these jobs are not paid for but oh well, good experience CAN substitute good money once in a while. (Yes, i know i'm citing mr Aslam's load of crap here) Well, anything to keep myself busy. Like an old wise man (me) always say, if you cant keep yourself entertained, keep yourself busy... and shit.

Oh, and another major event that has occured so far is that i'm in love. With who? When? And (or) with what? Well... JOHN SMITH ON ICE MOMENT!!!! Wheeeehheeee-hheeeee!!

Alrighty, that's all about it for now. Life's been good with ups and downs but yep, still good. Being optimistically idiotic have its drawbacks but it does have its good perks and i'm enjoying every single bit of the latter at the moment. After all, life's gonna end in 1 year, why not enjoy it to the fullest? Oh, and my oncoming exams? Meh.. all's well should/supposed to/i think will end well. Right? :p

2012

2009-11-14T05:57:00.002+08:00

Delaqroux inc Review: 2012

I stumbled upon the idea of world's end when i was seven and found the theory of world's end to be on 12.12.2012 just a few years back. As much as everyone claim that everything is in God's work, one, obviously, cant help to imagine how this God's work will be like. So yep, i have some odds and ends here and there put together and thus, i have my own imaginative version of world's end and it was sick. But not being able to exactly explain to anyone what i visualize, i was pretty glad that 2012 (the movie) came out. But, does the director's depiction of world's end is as horrific and insane as i have imagine, or is it just a natural-disaster flick?

Storyline:

As if the idea of world's end at 2012 not enough to scare us senseless, the movie began with the first sightings of possible end of the world evidences in 2009. Apparently, an indian scientist, monitoring the earth crust in a copper mine found out that the earth core is getting more and more imbalanced due to a high heat wave from the sun. Fast forward 3 years later, the story takes position from behind Jackson Curtis, author of bad-seller Farewell Atlantis and full-time father who neglects his family coz of his manuscript. With his family tearing apart (and not to mention, the world as well), Jackson will have one last chance to prove that he is a worthy father who does care about his family - by trying to escape the end of the world.

The Review:

The storyline may be a turn-off to few and trust me, it is a turn off. This may be a spoiler but if you're a true blue catastrophe savvy guy, you might figure out that the sypnosis above already suggested that it is not the end of the world. It is just another natural disaster; earthquake on a global scale. Yes, you can say it is the end of the world but nothing much out-of the ordinary considering the fact that the Mayans saw it coming first, the Bible and Quran already prophesize an armageddon, and yet the movie done nothing in 'answering' to any mythological or biblical stuff. I can say that the depiction of world's end in 2012 do fit in some prophecy in the holy scriptures but there is too many loop holes and gaps that it turned out to be entirely a scientifical, natural disaster movie. Also, you may feel that the movie's storyline is made via tracing the exact storyline from Day After Tomorrow on a sheet of transparent paper, retyping it in Microsoft Word with a few tweaks here and there, and projected with an OHP via Microsoft Powerpoint with very fancy animation and graphical images. It is that much of an exact copy.

But you may wonder why i mention that long winded analogy beforehand. Well, the storyline, while of an exact copy, is presented in a way that we all love - with very, very fancy animation and graphical images. Yes, the graphic is insane and the size of the destruction is phenomenal. For a guy behind Independence Day, Deep Impact and Day After Tomorrow, this, of course, is nothing of a surprise. But with an added twist, the movie can be considered a mix of all the previous three movies. There's fire and explosion like in Independence Day, massive tsunamis ala Deep Impact, and gigantic cracks and quakes of in Day After Tomorrow. Needless to say, graphical depiction of a natural disaster putting humanity at the brink of extinction (again) in 2012 is the best one yet!

The Verdict:

For the most part; the movie is exactly as is shown in its trailers. The storyline is predictable (and not too mention, almost 3 hours duration) and it does get draggy at some part, especially the 'intermission' between escape scenes where the characters start talking to one another. The director obviously attempt to build up the characters here but with the distraction of the catastrophic eye-candy beforehand and the future ones to expect, i found out that this is the time, i observed, that the audience in the cinema took out their phones and start replying text messages. In a way, the intermission give you a good time-out from mayhem but by imposing boring dialogues between characters, it's not really a good strategy. But when the end begins (pun joke intended), things get really really hot - and i mean, molten-lava-spewing-from-the-earth's-core hot. There's plenty of narrow escape scenes in which is both heart stopping but makes the storyline even more predictable. Narrow escapes makes Jackson seems almost immortal and those that stick with him lives. But a moment someone strays away like a lamb, they die. It's good heart pumping plot but those who can see the pattern will find this who-lives-and-who-dies game very predictable. The only unpredictable element in the movie is the funny moments. The movie does feature aplenty and the fact that it popped out at the most intense-most moments, the funny moments and catchy jokes are simply brilliant.

I give this movie a 6.7/10 - Good: The graphics and unfitting humour, Bad: The predictability, And The Ugly: The draggy part of storyline. While there's nothing beyond awesome in the movie,the movie is indeed entertaining and i still recommend you to watch this movie in the cinema with big screens and super loud surrounds, that you can actually feel the vibration in the room. Downloading and watching this movie in a laptop will not do justice for this gorgeous movie but on the upside, you can fast forward the boring, predictable storyline. So yep, feel free to leave a comment on the movie under the comment section and tell us what you think!

-Adnin

Escaping the end of the humanity immortally, one narrow misses at a time

To Write Love on Her Arms

2009-11-11T13:24:00.001+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates: TO WRITE LOVE ON HER ARMS

There's always those time back in Malaysia before when Valentine's Day kicks in and everyone go all hyped out loving each other like they never been loved before. Well, call me The Grinch of Valentine but i find it annoying. I mean, seriously, if you really love someone like they have never been loved before and you show that only on four days in a year (Valentine, your birthday, your partner's birthday, you and your partner's anniversary), dude, you're not loving enough. why not love her/him a lil bit more on this oncoming NOVEMBER 13th?

Uh yeah.. it's Friday the 13th this November but i'm not referring to that. I'm talking about
TO WRITE LOVE ON HER ARMS DAY!!!! (TWLOHA)

If you're among those who will go "what's that?", do yourself a favor and slap yourself silly. Go on. But not that silly coz you need to read on!

To Write Love on Her Arms is based on a romance novel (if i'm not mistaken). It's a love novel so lovely that people love the phrase "To write love on her arms". I'm not too keen to put the sypnosis of the novel here but the main idea of that novel is that everyone deserve to be loved - no one gets left behind, no one should be left alone and no one dont deserve to be not loved (wait... what?). So yeah, in remembrance to that message the novel brought up, Aussies marked November the 13th as TWLOHA day, a non-profit, charitable event where, what you can do, is show your loved ones that they are loved - your girl/boyfriend, your kids, your parents, your pets, your friends buy writing LOVE on their arms.

There's nothing to attend to on that day so you have no excuse to miss this out. No punctured tire crap, no forgot coz you're too busy watching the grass grow, and definitely, no i'm-busy-studying-to-see-you bull either. What you can do is simple. First, take a pen (preferably permanent markers will be the best as you want this to be as permanent as possible), walk up to the ones you love, ask them for their hand, and write/draw/tattoo "LOVE" on it. Why? Just let them know that you're taking five minutes of your time that you want to tell that that you do love them. Easy peezy, lemon squeezy, cherry berry, go to 7 Eleven and steal a slurpee. It's THAT easy! Oh, and if you feel like joining the millions of people doing the same, you can upload the picture of LOVE on your arms on TWLOHA official website; http://www.twloha.com/
or the Facebook group page; http://www.facebook.com/towriteloveonherarms

So go ahead. Spread the love, literally, on your loved ones' arms and who knows, a lil ink on their skin encrypting the word love might actually change a whole lot of things in their life. Trust me.
And as a side note here, i'll be writing LOVE on her arms for sure =)

Taking the train back to reality

2009-10-15T07:57:00.002+08:00

Delaqroux Inc. Updates
Unlike most songs/poem i wrote before, i think this one really really represents all the emotional conflicts i'm having within me at the moment. The meaning is yours to interpret. Oh and just as a side note; i have been writing poems involving trains lately. I guess trainrides are precious. It makes you realize that everything is going past fast in your life. And also, as further as we can go, the train will eventually take us back to the place where we belong. In both good way and extremely melancholic manner as well. Anyways, enjoy the poem.

Taking the train to St Leonards
Made me think how tracked life is
So predictable that it hurts
There's always the joy of love amiss
Taking the train to Epping
Made me think everything's okay
But the lady next to me is crying
And the sky was shallow and gray

I hummed just enough to let her hear
A tune to tell her everything's alright
Put my hands around her shoulder
As i said "Let's just enjoy the ride"
It's nothing like a roller coaster
There's not the thrills neither the fun
But even for awhile, we can be together
Eventhough i know that i'm not the one

We both know the ride will stop
It's just a matter of where and when
But please dont let me hear you sob
Dont remind me that this moment will end
I dont know how they trust the weatherman
If what he forecast is all the predictable
I know better i dont need a hand
Coz, for a start, i know that i'll miss her

Taking the trainride to Sydney
Let's get lost in the City Central
It's fine as long as there's you and me
Just us and with no care of the world
But taking the trainride back home
On the last train around nine thirty
We're meant to live our lives alone
You'll be with him and i'll be with me
Coz next stop; it's cold, cruel reality

Taking the Train back to reality
-Ad (2009)

Does Cohort 5 MacQ speak English?

2009-10-08T08:26:00.002+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates!

This is a response to an issue raised by our coordinator, Pamela, several times during our meets, as well as to a few comments made by my friends about our, IPBA Cohort 5 MacQ goingbouts. This post is made entirely on my own surface observation and thus, may not exactly reflect what's going with Cohort 5 MacQ. Hence, i'll try not over-generalize things and do pardon if i unintentionally (or intentionally) did so in any part of this post.

if all of us here do not suffer short term memory loss as i do, i bet you'd still remember when Pamela mentioned several time on the fact that we need to mix around with the locals more. Her least concern was us learning a foreign culture, but her biggest one is if we ever get to speak and practice English at all. Additionally, having few academic discussion with the non-Malaysian friends i made here, they did ask me if the notion of "being sent overseas so we can get to absorb foreign culture and practice English" ever seems to be working with us, considering there is 25 of us sent and to them, 25 is too high a number of a non-English speaking group to go around. As much as i would like to refute this, i would have to agree with their point. a number of 25 maybe small in a group of thousands English-speakers around us. But our tendency to form a small deviating group with a Malay language medium is still high considering their is 25 of us. They recommended a better figure of 5. As nonsensical as this may be, it does make sense.

I figure we do take Pamela's concern lightly. And i'm not basing this on concious value, i do get a remark of disagreement when Pamela said the fact that we moved out in chunks, staying together with groups of Malaysian only, is gonna make our chance to practice English drop. I have to say i agree with Pamela's concern. Do we speak English while we're with other Malaysian when its way more comfortable to speak in Malay? And i'm not just focusing in speaking as well, what about reading, writing and listening - the all four skills of proclaimed English profficiency? It may seem a simple evidence but i would like to share this experience. My housemates comprises of four Malaysian (including me) and two non-Malaysians. One time recently, i wanted to leave a message on the fridge. The point to be made was "please clean up your respective stuffs so i can clean the kitchen and wont end up throwing your things accidentally on purpose" but can you guess how long it took for me to complete such message considering the fact that i want to sound non-offensive, polite, yet strict at the same time? And most importantly, i need to make sure my English is the very least understandable by my two non-Malaysian housemates.

It took me ages! But that was when something struck me, on the fridge was also a cooking schedule made by one of my Malaysian housemate and as it only concern us four Malaysian occupants, it was written in Malay and how easy it was made! When i think about it, i think i too can finish my message easy if i'm writing it down in Malay rather than English and targetting only the four Malaysian housemates i am fond of. And that is also the point when i realized, i wasnt just writing a message up - i am assessing how i am using my English. And why do that occur? coz i have non-Malaysian housemates and i have to level my English practice to fit in their context. Will this occur if all my housemates are Malaysian - or at least, all of them are people i am fond of? Maybe yes and maybe not. Chances are higher on "maybe not"

In classrooms (lecture halls and tutorial classes), we still tend to cluster up together. Well, you can defend this basis with the argument; "there isnt much oppotunity to be talking with the Non-Malaysian student next to you during this period anyway so it wont make much difference if i am sitting with non-Malaysian or not" Yes, this is true. But, i do believe that that is just one of the two reasons of such habit and it isnt the main one either. The main one, i dare to admit coz i do feel it really really frequently, is the fear that, what if to say the lecturer suddenly end up asking you to discuss with your partner and that partner is a Non-Malaysian. That is actually our primary concern now doesnt it? And to base this on an evidence, take our EDUC260 class. From my observation, the first few classes of EDUC260, we chose to scatter out around the lecture hall. Why? Coz we are excited of the idea on sitting with an Australian to your left and right. But the fact that William De Jean will ask you to partner up everytime, i manage to observe that we decided to go back to sitting with other Malaysians. Why? Coz it's more comfortable to discuss with people you are fond of when you can speak Malay, not English. Even if you do use English, you wouldnt care as much about making sure what you said is clear, there is no speaking-culture standardizing issues, and its less nerve-wrecking. So it's back to the point of "do we even speak English at all then?"

I guess i might as well stop here. but just ask yourself; how much are you actually practicing English today, and how much exactly are you assessing your English while you are using it - or you are simply blurting out things in English with no concern with all the between the lines value of English usage? How many times in a day when you found out that you cant make your point clear in English that you revert your language use back to Malay without feeling any regret at all or have a quick two secs in that moment to think "why cant i deliver my point in my current English?" I'm not going against speaking in Malay here neither about speaking in Manglish but i guess considering 1/4 million spent for us to just practice English in an English speaking environment, its a shame if we couldnt care less about it all eh?

p/s: when i use the notion of "Non-Malaysian" here, i'm emphasizing that i dont mean only Australian or people with English speaking background. I refer to those from other countries who are struggling on their English as well.

The 2 years posting-freeze rumour

2009-10-08T08:18:00.002+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Update.
First of all, i would like to stress out that this is a rumour and i have no intention to comment on this issue, but only to share among my teacher trainee comrades as i think this would really concern us - not only to the fact that we're being posted or not but where our Education world in Malaysia is taking us to. (And as a side note: THOSE WHO DARE CLICK THE "LIKE" BUTTON WITHOUT COMMENTING ANYTHING, "I WILL RAIN DOWN AN UNGODLY HELL UPON YOU!!" I hate people who just press "like" coz they dont bother coming up with a comment. Might as well just stay off.. geez..) Just ponder for a moment or two and lemme know what you guys think =)

Tanjong Malim, 4 Oktober – Profesor Dr. Zakaria Kasa, Timbalan Naib Canselor Akademik & Antarabangsa Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) mengeluarkan kenyataan semua penempatan lepasan UPSI ke sekolah-sekolah terpaksa dibeku bermula 2010.

Kenyataan tersebut dipetik dalam ucapan perasmian yang disampaikan beliau dalam ‘Simposium Halatuju Pendidikan Fizik Di Malaysia’ anjuran Persatuan Mahasiswa Sains (PMS) dengan kerjasama Jabatan Hal Ehwal Pelajar & Alumni (JHEPA) UPSI yang berlangsung di Bilik Seminar Bitarasiswa semalam.

Dalam pada itu katanya, pembekuan semua penempatan ke sekolah-sekolah ini dikeluarkan oleh pihak Kementerian Pelajaran Malaysia (KPM) melibatkan semua institusi yang mengeluarkan bakal-bakal guru bukan sahaja di UPSI malah di IPTA lain yang menawarkan program pendidikan termasuk Institut Perguruan (IPG) di seluruh negara berikutan masalah kewangan yang dialami pihak Kerajaan Malaysia.

Beliau pada awalnya mengambil langkah untuk tidak mengumumkannya kepada pelajar kerana bimbang menjejaskan motivasi pelajar untuk meneruskan pengajian namun bertukar fikiran dengan mengumumkannya semalam kerana beranggapan perkara tersebut harus diketahui semua pihak sebagai langkah persediaan.

Sementara itu, beliau turut menjelaskan penempatan untuk graduan pada tahun ini tidak mengalami masalah kerana tindakan membekukan penempatan tersebut hanya bermula tahun hadapan.

Beliau walau bagaimanapun tidak mengeluarkan kenyataan bertulis berkenaan perkara tersebut dan hanya diselitkan dalam ucapan perasmiannya semalam.

Dalam perkembangan berkaitan, seorang mahasiswa UPSI mendakwa menerima mesej melalui Sistem Pesanan Ringkas (SMS) daripada rakannya dari sebuah IPG mengatakan perkara yang sama minggu lalu. Katanya dalam e-mel yang dihantar ke upsikini@gmail.com, pelajar terbabit mengatakan keluaran UPSI dan IPTA lain yang tamat pengajian bermula tahun hadapan, perlu menunggu selama 2 tahun sebelum ditempatkan ke sekolah-sekolah.

Tambahnya, pelajar IPG yang dijadual ditempatkan ke sekolah-sekolah pada tahun hadapan akan diawalkan penghujung tahun ini bersama-sama dengan keluaran UPSI dan IPTA lain yang bergraduat pada tahun ini.

Keadaan ini menurutnya mempunyai kaitan dengan masalah yang berlaku apabila lambakan graduan pendidikan di seluruh negara.

Mengulas tentang perkara tersebut, Exco Akademik & Kerjaya Majlis Perwakilan Pelajar (MPP), Nur Aqilah Hanis berkata pihaknya akan mendapatkan penjelasan lanjut berkenaan perkara tersebut daripada TNC Akademik sendiri supaya tidak berlaku kekeliruan.

“Isu ini boleh menjadi isu nasional, bukan hanya melibatkan UPSI sahaja, jadi lebih baik kalau saya dapatkan dulu penjelasan secara terperinci daripada Prof. Dr. Zakaria dan Bahagian Akademik supaya maklumat sebenar dan tepat diperoleh sebelum saya mengulas lanjut.

“Kita tak mahu isu ini menjadi sebab untuk kita bertelagah, apa yang penting selepas kita mendapatkan maklumat tersebut, kita akan fikirkan penyelesaiannya. Jadi semua pihak diharap dapat bersabar”, jelasnya.

- Once again, this is just a rumor and i dont really understand if this issue gonna be what i expect it to be. Eitherways, g'day!

Take a Night Train to Epping

2009-10-02T20:55:00.003+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates!
I wrote this song while i was in a train to Chatswood one time ago. The tune was still in a mess but the lyrics still (seems to) make sense. I leave the song to your own interpretation as everyone has different experience during their trainrides as they use the Chatswood-Epping line. Just hope for those who've read this song lyric and happen to use the train line at any period of time after, open your eyes and look around the train as you play your own song in your mind =)

Take a night train to Epping
9pm sharp - not a second later
And let the world just pass you by.
Just stay on board til morning
And maybe the morning after
And til the day when we all gonna die

See the guy in the loner seat?
Facing the world as he’s sitting there
Just like an English teacher in front of a class.
Nervous, counting his own heartbeat
Trembling, from all those people’s stares
Laugh at him now, this chance’s not gonna last.

See the girl in the three-seater?
Sitting by the window, staring at the glass
At her own reflection growing older and wearier.
Seeing herself, though the world cant see her
Wondering how she got lost in this mess
She sighed as she wiped her last drop of tear.

Take a night train through Epping Line
Enjoy your ride and pretend everything’s fine
You’re just a lil hurt
Only that, and nothing else more.
There’s no stop if you don’t see the sign
And just leave the world you hate behind
Get your lifetime ticket
All aboard, what’re you waiting for?

Take a Night Train to Epping
-Dark A. Delaqroux
May 2009

If God have a Facebook profile

2009-09-28T08:35:00.004+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates.

And this post is made as a response to a friend of mine's shoutout on "If God have a Facebook profile, how many of you will add Him? And how often will you write on His wall?". I thought it's quite an interesting situation to look through and definitely deserve a Delaqroux Inc Update. So yep, here we go.

At a glance, "what if God have a Facebook profile?" may seem to be a good topic to start a really funny stand-up comedy show. I mean, it was already funny when we realized that Barack Obama had a Twitter account. Just imagine the sight of Obama sitting in a really serious conference room shown live on television and we can see his latest update made on Twitter; "dude, being a president sucks.." That would put a whole new perspective on Barack Obama as the president. In one way, we'd take him to be just as close to us as of me having you under my friendlist on Facebook, and being able to see each other's personal updates and shoutouts. On the other, we'd regard this an act of retardness. I mean, why would a US president have his update on Twitter when he should be concentrating on the going-abouts within the conference room? On another way, we may take it as something very comically ironic as of someone all influential and powerful to possess an account in a community site of Facebook and stuff.

But in terms of another entity which is way beyond influential and powerful to that of Barack Obama is, when looked through it closely, to have a Facebook profile is no laughing matter.
Imagine if God has a Facebook profile? The first question that may struck us all is; "Which God has a Facebook profile?" Yeah, as much as we're all aware (and put into very firm believe) that there is but one Almighty being ruling us all; it is as much as us being fed with the idea that every religion has its own God. To put it through, we all acknowledge there is the one and the only Allah swt for the Muslims, but we do know the existence (either in actualization of an existence of just the ideologic existence of it) of Jesus and the Father for the Christians, Buddha for the Buddhist, Vishnu, Sheva and Brahma for the Hindhus, as well as the 'other' Gods for other religion practicioners. So if the one and only God that all of us have, is to have a Facebook Profile; who's God will it be? And will that put an ultimate dominance over a religion and end to a whole lot of other religions in the world? And will that dominant religion be finally the single solution of unity we're looking for all this while or it's a dark gold oppoturnity to twist things to your selfish bidding now that you ARE within the truth. In other words, will such things end the war between Salahadin and King Richard, or will that spark a greater one now that one side is immensely victorious? Yeah, i guess the first thing we will look to is God's personal information, specifically under "Religious Views: XXX"

As a follow up to that, who will God add under his friendlist? Some religion practicioners do believe that to follow their particular religion is the only single way to be connected with the God they believe in. Yet the idea of being accepted or being rejected by God is something unknown for all of us as there is no way to confirm that (aside from your own religious perspective of faith and believe, obviously - i'm not preaching any atheistic beliefs here). Well, not anymore if God has a Facebook profile and has a friendlist of His own! Who will God be adding then? If the God who is having the Facebook profile is a God of religion A, will He only accept the request from practicioners of religion A and religion A only- as based through the ideas in scriptures of religion A that following religion A is the only way to God's salvation? Or will He be the unbiased God who love all of us who seeks His salvation? If He adds everyone regardless of their religious background (and even of those who doesnt believe at all in His existence), wont that raise the tension of religion A practicioners as they believe that they're only one who should have been able to 'reach' God? And if God of religion A accepts the request from all of us, how do we know if that is an act of unconditional love or that is an act of propaganda; to appeal welcoming to everyone with the intention of getting people to think your way underneath? Will God accept people in His friendlist as who they are, or will He walk the talk of the single way to salvation?

And finally, (though i do still have plenty of focuses to talk about but i guess i'll end this post with this last one) what will God do now that he has a Facebook profile? Well, obviously, the main idea of joining a community site is to get connected, and thus that involve shout-outs, notes, event updates, pictures and videos uploading etc. With such a wide array of letting people know what you did, doing or planning to do, what will you be checking first in God's Facebook profile? Well, from what we all believe in our religion, God has everything planned for us; the beginning of our life, where our life will take us to, and how our life will be ended. So i'm not quite sure about you but i will check God's note for me. Just search for the note tagged with your name and you'll most likely to find everything there is prepared for you there. This seemingly easy task may actually appear to be the complex answer we're searching for all this while. What if you're a religious person now, and checking through your tagged note, you discover that things may not exactly go your way as you would expected it and it will go on that way forever? What if you're a man fighting for an idealistic imagination of a dream only to find out that the dream will remain what it is til the end of your fight? To put it straight; who we are now is a result of what we believe in; and what we believe in remains in the unknown. What if what you are believing is finally put clear-cut out for you? Of course, this is normal in real life scenario where you are a firm believer, you receive a slightly unjust end, and you can still walk out of it, believing that this all within God's plan of work for you. Well, what it that blueprint of a plan is laid out to you? To put in an example, take the "Crazy religious lady" on Youtube.(If you're not aware of her, she's one of the representative of a Christian Church in US where they held a controversial demonstration of "Thank God for Dead American Soldiers" in front of Iraq posted American Soldiers' funeral). The world hates her for what she did, the newcaster claimed her to be blinded by "The Word of God" and claimed that God will not forgive her for this. But, what if, under God's note tagged with that lady's name, the world found out that she will be forgiven in the future? Will we be ready to face this truth even if we do know the fact that God will forgive those who seeks forgiveness, yet we believe what she did is unforgivable? Will you still say it's God's will while already knowing what exactly are God's will through his Facebook profile?

So yeah, i leave you to the thinking. While what i have discussed here may seem a negative view of God having a Facebook profile, of course, i can still visualize a good future of me having God under my friendlist (that is, if He accepts my add request - in which, i believe firmly that He will). After all, God is believed to be wrathful to those who hates him and loving to that who loves him. Well, i'm a God-believing guy who spent plenty of time trying to seek him (not only through religion but everything under his creations), so i guess if we do get to finally meet up, it is like a dream come true reunion. I do want to be under God's Facebook friendlist =)

p/s: and i would really like to ask God; "Are You happy to be portrayed as Morgan Freeman in Bruce Almighty?" :p

Art on Demand!!!

2009-09-16T19:18:00.003+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates!

And, good news!!! A few weeks back, i've gotten this email from a guy named Jamie Lee. He is in Grapeshot's Editorial board and for what seemingly too good to be true coincidence, Jamie and some other group of students studying Media in Macquarie are planning to publish their own magazine called Scope and they are in need of a comic strip to fill in the magazine. Fortunately, i did manage to submit and artwork for Grapeshot recently and who could've thought that one page (makes-no-sense) comic strip caught his attention!! And thus came he with a proposal for me to draw another comic strip for Scope!! WHEEEE!!!!

Who could've thought i can be the most two-faced dude ever as i immediately submitted him the comic drawing i made for the MSA's newsletter. Hehe. Dont blame me MSA. It's true that you guys gave me the first call to draw a comic strip. But it took you guys forever to clear out what exactly do i need to do to submit my work so, yep, gommeneh, MSA...

So yeah, i made this one page (again, not-so-make-sense) comic strip and send it over to Jamie. Things went on smoothly but unfortunately, the comic was accepted for their magazine - only that, instead of wanting a one-page strip comic, they wanted to give me a whole CENTERFOLD of the magazine! Yeah, that is definitely good but i had to redraw my comic and they wanted, now that the comic's gonna be on centerfold, the comic to be in color! And they need it by NEXT WEEK! And i already have my hands friggin full with assignment deadlines! Ngaaaaaa!!!!

I wish i have a tablet... that electronic pen thingy. That would make things a hell lot easier...

But, nah, i guess every good news must have its little twist to face before you really get to enjoy them. So yeah, i guess i'm gonna give it all out and make sure i dont mess this one offer up - not even the tinniest bit! I know i may be slightly exaggarating this but i have a feeling that this is one big chance where i'll be of beyond stupidity if i ever decide to slack this one of. So yeah, i'm on a tight schedule and i have no idea how to make my comic to be in colour. But meh, i'll work it out even if it kills me.

So... Go, Darkie! GOOOO!!!! XD

The (Second) Key

2009-09-16T17:02:00.000+08:00

Delaqroux inc Updates!!!
In response to Miss Edward's "The Key". Haha. I know you've said the poem's open for any comments and stuff, and it seems that you've gotten aplenty. So i thought; what might your poem have not yet gotten is a reply. So here is my reply to your "Key". Note that, however, that i've written this totally impromptu so some things might have not make much sense or otherwise, not so eloquiant (not sure if that spelling's right) but hope you enjoy it anyways =)

The Key
How i dreamt to hold the key
And find my door of eternity
To save the you lying within me
To remind ourselves that we're still free

Hold my hand, please know you are freed
So leave behind that mirror of deceit
Come to life; leave your deathly sleep
Coz you're my pulse, you're my heartbeat

I cant save you for truth to be told
Yet i can give you part of my soul
Let me be a cure to your misery
Let me be the remedy for your agony
I know as much you cant bear this nightmare's pain
But please know as much the morn will come once again

If only I could find the key to your door
I could mend your wings; i can make you soar
I'll bear your pain, your sufferings i'll atone
I just want to let you know; you're never alone

-Ad..... ngiungngiungiung... or whatever that sound is =___="

Winter's End Update

2009-09-16T00:19:00.002+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates!

Yep, not much to update here. Well, actually there are things to be updated here but nah, i just dont feel like going so much in depth for each of them. So let's just go on a quick reminisce of what has been goin on for the past... well... since i last made my blogpost.

So yep, first things first, i just got back from Cornerstone Getaway Camp 2009 thingy! The camp was awesome, great company, interesting talks and pretty much a good weekend to take my mind off from things going around the normal Darkie's world and into the world of Gospel (not sure if any of that even make sense) regardless if it's one unfamiliar to mine. Well, i do get a lot of questions like, "what do you think/learn up so far?" or "How do you find the camp so far? Enlightened?". I guess my answer would be that I didnt learn much. Makes no sense? Well, let's just say as the old saying goes; "the more you learn, the more you realize there are more things you dont know" so if i'm to make such claim that i learned a whole lot of stuff (though obviously i do), that kinda goes off from my philosophy. Plus, my religious philosophy is; "religion is a pursue for answer - not the answer". So i always believe if one claim to have find the "answer", that'd probably be quite a lie as well..

Well, i dunno. I'm just mentioning this on a surface level. it goes waaaaaay more deep than this but to make things simple; i enjoyed the Getaway and thanks for all who've really made my day a kickass and an enlightening one. Whoo!

So yep, let's go to the next agenda. I'm not sure if it's just an illusion of mine but i think i never really had my experience/ opinion/ idea heard by Pamela Coutts, our coordinator. I mean, i never get the chance to talk with her, neither nor i manage to get a chance in one of her meetings to share whatever i've experienced. I got my one and only shot one time ago when she asked the whole class to tell her on how we've spent our winter break, but the shot lasted for five second. I was like "I went to NZ" and she went "which part?" and i answered "Auckland and Wellington" and that's it! Off to the next person and the next person got to elaborate everything they did back at home. I'm not implying i'm a lil guy seeking for attention here but seriously, if she's gonna be more interested in what the class has been doing (without me), i might as well go talk with this tree stump i found back in Stanwell Tops. It's either that, or make the attendance to the meeting not compulsory for me then. At least i can go back home and sleep :p

Lesseee... what else? Oh yeah, Tassie trip planned out find though i cant shake the feeling that i'll be wasting a hell lot of money for a very short worthwhile experience. It's like NZ all over again.. Damnit. I dunno but as much as I want to have the whole company that i like to travel with together with me, it seems that's the time they'll do their f*ck-me-up marvellously. Not mentioning names here and if you feel the heat, well, sucks to be you =)

Anyways, had a great dinner tonight too. Made my seafood chowder one more time but with a better result and i wanted to make this a great get-together dinner thingy and, once again, seemingly to be fruitless as it may be, but i tried to get some Malaysian to join the experience. And, as you all might have predicted, i get none (for the hundredth time). I mean, there's the dinner at the mosque and the MSA dinner going on on the same night. But seriously, where's the fun of sticking to your own group of society all the time? I know it's seriously none of my business but i just wanna share part of the mixing around fun with other people of different background among other cohort 5 macquarians as well, but it's just so hard to get them moving a lil inch of their comfort zone. I remembered the fact that someone claim folley onPamela's belief regarding moving out from MUV equals to less socializing with the world but i see it happening now. But yeah, the fact that everyone turned down my offer one by one made me feel a lil down. But good thing was that i still made the chowder (on the last minute) and brought it over to Risa's place. I thought there would be just me and her eating but it turned out, i made acquiantance with a German lady and a Chinese guy from China. They both joined the dinner along with Ahmad from the Middle East and best of all; they liked me chowder!! WHOOO!!! Had great fun talking about how sinful food can get and its ironic as i doubt my chowder is that sin-free :p

I guess that's all up til now. dont mind the bad english coz i'm kinda sleepy, it's 3am in the morn and i'm overpiled with assignments. So yeah, you get the idea. Dark out!=D

Delaqroux Arts On Sale

2009-09-01T23:04:00.003+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates!

(as this is your standard Delaqroux Inc Updates blogpost, stuffs mentioned at this point may not exactly be aiming to the main idea of this blogpost. Please scroll downward untils you see something long-winded written in capital letters)

Aaaaand... it's already the September of 2009. Man, time does fly when you least expect it. Winter's coming to an end that's for sure. Like how the Japanese proverb goes... uh... something about the footstep of spring can be heard from the mountains.. or something. Well, it's true that that spring marks all the flower blooming around the uni area. However, one wont last that long here. Probably by next summer and that flower will be gone. Not to say i'm a plant guy but there is always some joy in having a flower you like to accompany you now and then. Knowing that it wont be there for you soon, that kinda makes me feel sad. Oh well... guess i better start sketching sights of spring while the flower is still here. Even if i cant have her here with me, at least i have some good last memories as a memento.

And if that last paragraph makes you think that i'm on crack, well, no, i am not. That's what i call the Delaqroux code system. The whole paragraph makes no sense? Good. Thats the point of it =)

So yeah, back to the main update; The Hand of Midas. This term might probably be familiar with few but to those who hasnt the slightest idea of what this term means, Hand of Midas refers to the Hand of King Midas in ancient Greek history (well, at least i think it's Greek...) who, well, stumbled to some wish-granting device (i cant remember what exactly was it; genie, shooting star, goddess etc.) and made a big douche outta himself by wishing that he have the power to turn things into gold with the touch of his hand. Things seem to be really funky at first. i mean, seriously, turning things to instant cash, i'd personally make a wish somewhere along that line as well :p But it turned out later during mealtime that this King Midas could not eat anything as any food that he touches turns to gold instead of... well... the edible substance known as food. So some legend goes that he managed to reverse his greedy wish, some other said that he chopped off his hand (uiks! and thus the movie SAW was created), while other ends the story with the King dying of starvation. So yep, basically, that's the whole idea.

p/s to King Midas: Ever thought of trying to eat with cutleries instead, my lord?

Anyways, as much as i wish to have the ability to turn things to gold (though maybe i will make a wish that i can turn things to gold AND AS A SIDE WISH; makes things turn back to normal as well), obviously there's no such thing as the hand of Midas in this world. But to put it in another way, i dont have to exactly touch something and make it turn to gold. Instead, i could manipulate some talents that i have (with hands involved) and turn things from something totally worthless to something profitable. And thus i had the idea; ART! Yep, though not that good at it, i can draw some funky stuff with a pen and paper. As much as i used to ramble about wanting to get involve in career-streams that provide me ample opportunity to utilize this skill, i was quite a nay-sayer. I mean, art stream is not really an income generator for all. But hey, at this point where i cant get a job and i could use some extra cash, what is there to lose? So yep, i'm gonna draw and make money outta my drawing even if it kills meh!

And to start things off, there will be an art festival this Friday 4th of September. The last Zine fair at Sydney's MCA was a big bomb, maybe this one will go with a bang as well (plus, the fact that this art fair will be on for two weeks instead of a day). Yeah, maybe i can generate some drawings and get the on sale. The probability of people buying them is still very very low but meh, who the FiretrUCK cares? I'm just gonna give it a big(ger) shot this time and see whether does my hands actually have somewhat a Midas touch in them somewhere. Wish me luck, ppl!

Oh, and now that i'm on a roll; let's try something a lil radical. Ahem...

DELAQROUX YE OLDE ART SHOPPE IS OPEN FOR COMISSION!!!

And what does that suppose to mean? Well, i'll be accepting any request of any particular drawings/designs/photo manipulation that you need done witha reasonable price! Just give me a buzz and i'll see if these hands can manipulate the flow of ink (or maybe the photoshop cursor) to make your artistic demands a reality. And for the time being, i will also have a few artworks on sale with me (not having that many artworks at this point but i'm thinking of putting any completed artwork on sale on the fly) so just gimme a nudge when you feel like you could use something on your plain white room wall, and i'll show you what i have with me that might cater to your interest.

Regardless if these plans will work or not, thanks for noting anyway =D

-Ad

Boredom and staticity (if that's a proper word)

2009-08-28T13:49:00.002+08:00

Delaqroux inc Updates

Sorry for not making a post for quite awhile now. I just seem to see no reason to make blogposts anymore these days so i guess that pretty much explain the lack of posts made recently. But every now and then, i guess i will make a few on special circumstances - ecspecially on one when my head's full of random thoughts and i have no one worthy of spilling it out to. So here i go, posting my thoughts on a blank page of post for everyone reading it, calling out any thoughts out there worth to be put par with mine.

So yeah, since i got back from NZ, things been really really quiet this semester. And i mean, no more exciting stuff - everyday's just teh same with yesterday. there are still all the clubs and society that i've joined in, of course, but they are all perfect copy of last semester (if you dont believe me, MICF made another trip to blue mountain this semester!) and yep, i found that getting less and less interesting. So far, i've skipped plenty of club meets already coz for one thing, i already know what is going to happen. That comes to me trying to entertain myself too. I nearly moved to a different house earlier this semester. Main reason to it is that i'm bored - not coz i'm trying to save money or whatnot. But i realized that that isnt going to change anything as well.

And i just realized another thing as well. I am the only one who's bored. Well, some company of people are having their constant dance routine for the mFest so i guess that kept them preoccupied. Dancing is not my thing (i can dance but not choreographically). I'm into acting but the only chance for me to get involve in such activity is through DraMac and the MGM. Which comes to another issue of sticking-togetherness. Dramac's arsenal of talents and actors are almost perfect that its extremely hard to get yourself in the group. And as much as i enjoy their plays every season, it is just as much as i'm losing faith in the script i'm constructing. My scripts are too bland - fit to entertain a small group of inexperienced Malaysian audience - but i dont think they're enough to fit for a larger group of experience audience. But dont get me wrong, i'm not giving up. Just slightly demotivated coz my script writing work currently seem to end up in a not-good-enough-so-rewrite loop. And MGM is just a pain in the ass. I cant blame the venue of audition (UTS, that's way far in the city) but the fact that they notify everyone a day before the actors audition, how am i supposed to fit in my schedule with that? Maybe i'm not trying hard enough for both cases but i dunno..

And as a side note here, everyone who are interested in acting and writing whom i know of never seems to care much about this stream anymore. Meaning i'm the only who is still stuck with this interest. even if i do manage to put enough effort into this, i need a team to at least be heard. And i dont mean that figuratively. In order to get your script staged in one of Dramac's season, you need a team of at least 4 to help you out in the early stage of being selected. I figured earlier that i know 4 who seems to be willing to help me construct a team but even that 4 is being really really stagnant now. How am i supposed to find a whole big ass group of crews if i cant even find 4 willing people? (Trust me; it's hard. Getting a group of six for a charity group wasnt even successful when that is supposed to be a good cause and it's the fasting month where people should DO charity for good causes) Bleh...

So yep, so far, my talent in writing, acting or drawing are all never heard of. Whatever happen to my dream of trying to broaden my skill now that i get a shot to be in front of international audience? Sigh... please whack me on the head. I know this may seem whiney of me but i witness a few times where i wrote stuff in my blog and things do happen (maybe it's just a psychological effect - just need a space to pour things out).. and in this case, please, let things happen fast... i'm dying of staticity and boredom here.

-Ad

Poem for Miss Edward

2009-08-07T19:42:00.003+08:00

Delaqroux Inc. Update!!
Featuring Florinta Edward.... Perez?
A poem i wrote back in Wellington, NZ when i got really bored and i decided to hangout at a local coffee shop all by myself accompanied by a pen, a piece of paper and a string of memories about someone. You may wonder "why Florinta out of all people?", well, i dunno.. i just feel like a poetic person always deserve a memoir of themselves in a form of a poem by another. no?

As if of some indonesian romance
I asked, "ada apa dengan florinta edward?"
or "what is with flo?"
if you find it easier to understand;
A rhetorical for one to answer, hence,
Though some may see it absurd
To simply put, simplest for so
A lady one can never comprehend.

I jest not, gentlemen and ladies,
Believe for i do not kid,
For i receive reward of nothing
If my intention here is to deceive;
You may find a spring full of daffodils,
Yet plainliness, i call it,
For Flo's a white winter flower so distinctive,
incomparable, in a clear morn of May.

-Dark A. Delaqroux
25th July '09

Flight of the Cohort

2009-08-05T14:47:00.002+08:00

Delaqroux inc Updates!

And daymn... it's been awhile now hasnt it? Well, i was in NZ and things went very very busy to actually make way for a blog update but yeah, now that i am back in my nice room in Macquarie Village, 122 Culloden Road, Marsfield, NSW, Australia, and pretty much with nothing better to do now that i dont have any class at the moment, i'm back to blogging.

As much as my readers will surely be dying to know what has been going on throughout my holidays in Auckland and Wellington, NZ; sad to say, i wont be making an update on that yet. Yeah, i owe a blogpost to thank everyone who has been hosting me throughout my stay so let's just put the thanking blogpost and the NZ holliday blogpost together in a blog-to-be-posted somewhen else. Let's get to the things up present, right here and right now.

As of a complement masquerading itself as a humour, Flight of the COhort is taken from the band (and the musical series) Flight of the Conchords, an NZ two-men band with quite a good sense of lyric-writing and quite comical in nature; though, Flight of the Cohort here have nothing to do with musical yet the irony can be a lil hysterical. Anyways, flight, as cited in Webster Dictionary 2009, can mean departure or to move out. So that sums the title and this blog content; the moving out of Cohort 5.

So yeah, upon my return back to Sydney, a whole lot of students from cohort 5 has fled the coop (or rather the Macquarie Village accomodation to be precise). Well, it didnt affect me in any way ( i mean, why would i be? I think among those listed not to join a cohort activity or meeting, i'm ranked number 2 below Rizal :p) but the sheer irony of it is slightly disturbing. I mean, for one thing, i know it's not a Fantastic X.5 clan-ish spirit but i figured with all the activities conducted among our cohort, the students will be sticking together all the way til we're back to Malaysia. And on top of that, remember the time when we had accomodation problem where some group of students really went to all out determination to get a house in most favour of getting to be housemates of their buddies? Yeah, it was bad times where some people really showed some irritating persistence but those people are now just simply gone! And to think of all the commotion last time to get each own's little home-sweet-home? Kinda selfish if you ask me. Obviously i'm in no position to complain on what people desire but to put everyone last time out of theirs, nobody possess a position for that.

Aaaaaanyway, let's get to the good fun part of the blogpost now - first, my artwork is published in Grapeshot, MacQ's Newsletter (not that it matter much however, the artwork was at the far back of the newsletter and my name wasnt at all shown anywhere in the page... bummer...). Good starting point to be drawing more strip cartoons and stuff. Second, i'm moving out meself! Now, i know some people will go "then if you want to move out, you banyak bunyi sangat jz now for what?", well, i didnt make much sounds last time and i always intend to move out in the first place. Just that now the Cohorts flying out, why not i join the bandwagon? Might be a whole new version of fun out there! lolz. And yeah, wish me luck. And third.... well... that's all of it i guess.. Cant think of any at the moment but yeah, when i reach back in Aussie, i felt a bit lonely. I mean, i'm back to my quiet mode (unless necessary), no life and no one to talk with when i lepak in my room. But when i was walking around the O-week booth yestarday, i met those wonderful people from my clubs again, Shade, Vincent (surprised he actually remembers me... must been the the big scene back in... whoops.. Shhh...) and Tanasha (who is now my classmate in Ling 253)

So yep, new sems in, new fun begins! Gambatte kudasai Darkie!!!

Spirit Walking in NZ

2009-07-03T21:41:00.004+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates

Been awhile hasnt it? Well, despite being busy, i have just discovered that blogging is a good way for people to track and shoot you down (well, not to say i have just discovered - i know that long time ago). So, for the time being, i'm starting to hate the readers of my blog. Yep, you. If you wanna use my blog to keep track on what i'm doing and make a big fuss out of it then you should know what i'm doing and where i'm at all the time - why dont you just come and see me? Then we can sit down and have a talk... over a cup of tea; in which, of course, i have poisoned it beforehand.

Oh, but for the time being, we cant. that is because...... **drumrolls** DELAQROUX IS LIVE IN NZ!!!

Whoooooooo!!!! **runs around** ok ok.. no big of a deal. seriously. with just a bit of a saving, anyone from aussie can travel to nz (at this point, this just struck me in the head - if we spell australia with OZ aka Aussie.. why dont we spell New Zealand; Enssie?) So, yeah, not to say i'm having the sweetest time of my life right now. I am on a holiday but only from college life. Normal life still goes on and the tendency to have life effing you up while you're at it is still at full-time large. As a matter of fact, yep, stuff happened. And i dont mean the kind of stuff that happened in which you can look back and laugh it. It's those kind of stuff where you look back and feel very, very upset about it... It was one helluva week with a whole lot of stuff going in my head. For one thing, i was annoyed by the fact there were changes in the original plan and no one bothered to tell me about it. Plus, the fact that someone effed up the plan and i wasnt told about it was another pain. But the main icing was the fact that I WASNT TOLD ANYTHING ABOUT EVERYTHING and suddenly, voila, i'm just caught in the middle of some crappy moment - this pisses me. Let just sa;, my main reason to be coming to NZ in the first place was about travelling.. but that was then, i realized that it was selfish of me to have that kind of idea when my priority should have actually been to see the people i missed (Yes, self-proclaimed realists out there can say that i am being too nice or i am such a naive guy to believe in the power of friendship whole-heartedly - let's just say; stfu, you've never been in a situation where your life line is only on a balance of only those wanting you to stay alive. Call me naive; i call you pathetic, sad little people who are very, verrry alone.. and i feel sorry for you :p). Now, the fact that things get really messed up and i couldnt be with the people i wanted to spend my time with (but instead trapped with the chance to do all the fun stuff, yet, pretty much all by myself), i'm starting to wonder; why should i even be in NZ then!? That confusion made me very pissed and most regretfully, i upsetted people more than how i thought they have upsetted me in the first place. And it turned out, i am so friggin mad with myself that i stopped thinking about anyone else but just myself, and the fact that i wanted so badly to beat the shit out of myself (is that even normal?) made me gone cuckoo - i even came to a point where i just want to go back in Sydney and never see anyone (yep, anyone) ever again.

Seriously, i dont even know how to explain what happened but it's just been a whole lot of confusion in my head; the fact that i felt (i'm trying my hardest to find a better word but i cant think of any) back-stabbed, the fact that i feel like i front-stabbed people who i really care about, and the fact that i want to stab myself so badly for doing that - it all draw out to a super big mess that i just grow tired thinking of how to organize my point properly in this blog post (yep, that's true). And yeah, to those people involved with that case and reading this blog, i'm really sorry to have caused such a commotion when i ended up with the only idea that i wanted to go back to Sydney. Really sorry too for not having to join your roadtrip. I was totally not in the mood for it. Sure, i laughed throughout my stay but yeah, that's all me denying the fact that i have really big issue on my mind that need to be settled. And the idea of joining the roadtrip and shoving my problems aside with a bigger scale of denial, that will never a good idea. So yeah, that is why i decided to pull myself out of the whole roadtrip plan.

But a lil status update here; no, i wont be going back to Sydney (hehe. sorry for the change of idea too.. i feel like an asshole) The time when the group have left for the roadtrip, i had a little time of my own. The whole idea was so that i can call the Jetstar customer line and get my return flight forwarded to an earlier date. But it turned out that i realized that all i wanted to do (as in the idea of wanting to return back to sydney) was my little dissapointed side telling me that i have had it with doing things for other people - i want to do something selfish just for myself and to please only myself. Despite so many people convincing me to stay, i couldnt help to feel that if i follow their persuasion and stay, i'm doing things for people again - not for myself - and my selfish side will be very pissed for that. But now that i'm alone without anyone else's points to consider, i finally get to hear out what i really, really wanted. The only way for me to entirely please myself is doing something selfish just for myself, and - call me stupid or whatnot; something selfish that i can do and will please myself for it is to stay with the people i care about. Yep, i dont care if i feel backstabbed or what. It's still painful of course but nah, i can take a little bit of pain. I still want to be with them and that's all that matters.

SO yeah, to those people who are reading this and particularly involved with this issue, sorry i have caused such hoo-hah when i decided to not join the roadtrip and planning to return back to sydney. I feel like an emo, attention-seeking sonnovab* but yeah, that's all there is. Sorry to be thinking about and only about myself. I was just confused and the fact that i choose to avoid everything was actually my own call to have a time for myself and think. Now that i've got it and i have faced myself to settled out the issue, i guess i'm up and running again for now. Then again, I do appreciate your concern and persuasion for me to stay.

Buuuuuuut, regardless, i'm not entirely sorry. Part of me is still pissed by the fact that my original plan for having a trip from Auckland to Wellington got screwed up and if i still can get the chance to blow up the people responsible for that, i will still be the one pressing the C4 trigger. So, to those wondering, "so, Darkie, what now? you messed up the chance to go on a roadtrip coz you've been a self-pitying emo/you felt betrayed in took you wayyy too long to heal yourself for the roadtrip.. what's next?" Well, fear not, my dear readers. Who ever said i cant have a roadtrip by myself? Muahahahahhah!! Time to get the engine up and running wild once again! See you in Wellington, bitch3zzz!!!!

Why do i love cooking?

2009-06-12T21:13:00.003+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Randomness Update... Why do Delaqroux cook?

"I love cooking" - this is basically the answer. Yes, level-3 question of open-endedness feature in great expectation of the recipient to reply with an even broader answer, yet, a simple first-level question that ends everything with a quick fullstop, abrupt, stagnant yet excellent execution fruits a sadistic satisfaction. A wise man will take that as the final answer, to go no more despite of their curiosity. 'Wiser' men, nevertheless, will try to attempt me to speak more of it by declaring a simple question of "Why?" I found this wh- question quite of an annoyance. This question either reflects the owner's curiosity to explore more of my life (without considering whether if they even have the qualification to do so), merely an innocent idea of trying to branch out this conversation for it not get onto a halt instantly, or, perhaps, such ignorance of the owner parallel to his naivety of not expecting any side of the answer he would not expect - yes, a more complex, darker side of why i simply love to cook...

I am not the type to give answers easily, for my answer comes with a price. I admit i am a man of greed, yet money is not enough to stuff my gluttony for satisfaction. I demand a step-by step procedure. Analogically, you, lift-the weight, work to build up your own answer to your own question. I, with most pleasure, will provide the job in forms of hints. Please, pardon me for implying this as a work - it is most likely a game if you wish to view it so. You'll be the ever vigilant detective and i'll be the grinning, waiting, psycopathic criminal. I tell you the answer to your question with an answer to a question of "what do i see in cooking" - please enjoy your part of deciphering.

I see cooking with the colour silver - not of those glimmering and dangling with a pricetag worth more than a life. I'm just talking about the simplistic glitter of pots and pans, tools of every chef hanging ready by their holsters, as of a katana waiting for the next moment for the warrior to use it for his kill. In this case, of course, it will be the chef for his cookings. Next, i see fire. Quite an easy part of the charade isnt it? Of course, it is. Nothing like a constructive fake sense of accomplishment to fuel my dear behavioristic, reward-oriented friends out there to keep them hot on their track in pursuing the answer they are seeking. To those who figured nothing of any sort, i pity, i meant fire on a stove, ever-burning, blue flame of innocence. But hark, hath thy flames always been blue? No, they are red split seconds of wisp at times. Physics tell us that the red burning fire is of a failure - not providing as much heat compared to the blue ones. But, i, in a sense of profuse empathy, adore the failures. For they are the one in the end to succeed to corrupt. They, the red burning spawn of Ifrit's, are the one that blackens the silver pan to nothing but of a disgustful, eternal blackness of color.

Afterwards, i see alchemy in the act of cooking. Of how simple, fresh ingredients strewn together by an invisible string of perception and ideas to make the perfect dish. Yet, does such foolish existence even real? To that of a perfect dish? Nay, it does not. No dish can be perfect. Yet the chef of such blasphemistic persistence continue on cooking, seasoning, perfecting a transparent hope of perfection to such extend to that as of a man possessed by the spirit of evil itself to achieve something humanly possible. Regardless, the ingredients may have mixed together nicely to that an unimaginable state of existence. Who would have thought it? Who would have thought two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen can transmute a molecule of water? Who would have thought the innocent yet perplexing mixture of sugar and spices could have give birth to an excellent sensation of sweet and sour? No one. Perhaps, the chef himself but just a "perhaps". He may have planned it or he may have accidentally uncovered such invention of a gourmet.

This is the point of non-explainable entity where the chef suddenly concludes that the dish is ready to be served, possibly due to the taste? Maybe. The texture? Most likely. The colour? The eyes see what the mind wants to see so what possibility can this suggest? Nobody knows for certain but the irony parts draws here. This is when the chef will be judge by the invention he creates. What irony. The Creator will be judge by what he creates. Shouldnt it be the other way around? Not in this religion, my dear friends, neither in this cult of chef and his cooking. Yet, to you, this may seem like the most crucial career moment for the chef. You are partially right, but it goes beyond to that of a pathetic career stream. This moment where the chef serves his invention to the audience, playing the role of selfish critics and self-appointed gourmet experts, represents the balance between chaos and control. In this moment, my dear friends, detectives and readers; I see cooking as a tie between a puppet and its puppeteer. This is when the role of the one in control and the one to be controlled is judged by an almighty unknown element of desire, fulfillment, content and satisfaction. It's fairly simple, if the chef displeases his audience, his audience (though how it may seem of pure irrelevance) have complete control of him. In the blink of the eye, the Creator is made the puppet and the ones critisizing his creation is the puppeteer. The puppet is at the puppeteers mercy now. They have the rights for anything and this includes despising the creation and claiming the chef put so little effort in the preparation, despite the fact that they were never there witnessing how the chef carries his duty. At the point the audience is the Almighty and the chef is surely the most despicable fallen ones short to the glory of the Almighty.

So with such big risk involve, why do i like cooking? Dear friends, i have just revealed to you one side of the coin. To what of the other? What if, on an indistinct line of luck or effort, that the coin lands on the desired side up? What if the chef pleases the audience? The role of the puppeteer is set and, as you have guessed it, the chef is now the puppeteer. His puppet, ranging from possibly one audience to a whole hall of satisfied guests, is at his disposal. They, once the 'wisest' critics coming from all walks in life, is now deafened by the shrill scream of the sizzling gourmet in front of them. Their tongues are now cut off by the sharp blade of satisfying sensation. Their eyes blinded by their own eyelids helplessly forced to be kept shut by an invisible dominating power that demands the sight and all other senses of the audience to be paralyzed, just to make way for the tongue to indulge the sensation of their self-appointed 'good-food'. Yes, the once wise men of wisest criticisms is now nothing but a wooden block of wood carved to be an emotionless puppet as the puppeteers disposal. Of course, you may wonder; if the audience are destined the puppeteer they can throw the lame puppet-chef out - what good if the puppeteer is now made to be the chef?

Simple. Its the sensation of absolute power- strong, Godlike enough for me even to claim that the lives of the audience are nothing more like nimble threads in the chef's right hand, with a pair of sharp sure-cutting scissors in the other. And this power may not seem visible to the naked eye, of course, and this what makes it the most succulent satisfaction ever. And this is why, i, your humble powerless chef, loves cooking. Still believing this claim to be preposterous? Well, alright then. Here is an analogical example to trigger some thoughts. Remember that last delicious food i served you? Are you dying for seconds? I bet you are.

Dark A. Delaqroux 2009
"Why do I love cooking?"
p/s: uhhh... this is just a for-fun article okay? Dont take it too seriously. I havent gone cuckoo (yet) :p

I'll be in UK 2010 - Jawapan MUKTAMAD

2009-06-07T20:20:00.002+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates

First of all, i had an awesome night today (tonight). Yep, another makan2 thing in Izzaidah's house again (again) but yeah i'm in luck; for today, all my 7 driving element is functioning on excellent balance. Yeah, that's how i roll. There's 7 fueling element that drives me to do something and whenever one of them remain static or off the chart, i wont be as alive as how i am now. ANyway, enough bout me. Let's focus on what i did! (Yeah, beautiful.. more stuff about me)

I made pizza! WHOO!! And though i am really cheating by using puff pastry instead of pizza dough, the pizzas turned out nice. Consider something of Shakey's extra thin crust dough and you're not that far off. And the toppings that i've used are based from Zan's Special, 3S (Shakey's Seafood Supreme) and the one with the prawn on it is truly, uniquely mine. Not bad for an independent try eh? The only thing that i regret most is the fact that i personally swallowed one whole pizza in the taste testing session beforehand. I was still full throughout the night that i cant really indulge in Izzaidah's chicken rice. Yeah, there's that ipoh chicken rice that Daryl enjoyed so much, and then there's Izzaidah's chicken rice that beats the hell out of the one Daryl likes so much.. trust me; it's been awhile since i tried a chicken rice and actually claim "this is the REAL chicken rice" (Chicken rice around KL is crappy - regardless if they claim they're from Ipoh, it's still crappy). And now, i'm making that claim once again. **Audience applause and hails Izzaidah Chicken Rice... those who chose not to will be shot... those who laughed and think that i am joking right now, will be shot in a torturing manner - i'll start with shooting your toes off, then your knee, and kick your knee a few times, shoot you in the hand then wait 15 minutes before i finish you off with cutting your toungue... and then, shoot you in the head, 30 minutes afterwards**

So yeah, so what does this have to do with the blogpost title? Yep, nothing. But this part does. Well, tonight, we had some special guests over (no, not Risa.. her special guest title already expires :p); it's Afiq and Pamela. Well, Afiq is my college mate back in IPBA and he's studying in Auckland. Pamela on the other hand, is also a collegemate of mine, studying French language and have been studying in France since 2008. So there you have it. Pamela traveled all the way down from France to meet Afiq and Afiq who will be having an exam pretty soon, came up all the way to Aussie to have a holiday with Pamela (Well, its Pamela's hols actually.. but Afiq's willing to put his exam aside and join Pamela for her holidays in Aussie). And before i left earlier just now, i heard from Pamela that she'll be travelling down to NZ afterwards for her remaining holidays. So what does this have nothing to do with me?

So yeah, i've been wanting to visit Jessica in France, 2010. She's my junior who will be studying in France soon, same course with Pamela. By the time i finished my course in Australia, she will in France. To the point i graduate and be sent off to schools to teach, that is when she'll be coming back to IPBA. Chances are; i might not be able to see her by that time and i told myself on how i dont want our last meet in Oldtown last year to be our last meet (... is this sentence making any sense?). So i promised myself to go and see her at least once in France. And then there's Nancie, Ivon, Seetal and Sem. Same goes for them too. I want to see them again and to wait for their course to end and them coming back to Malaysia in the year 2013 ( i think.. or 2012.. dont care), chances to see them once again is very, very low. So now that i am here, away from Malaysian strict education system that leaves you with no chance to travel at all, i should take this chance and make my way to see them in UK and France.

Regardless, everyone been telling me how impossible that is and as how much i'm trying to ignore those nay-sayers; i realized that what they've said is gradually making its way into my head. Financial wise; i have to prepare a whole sum of money to travel that far. Time wise; what of my exams and assignments?? With these two elements stopping me; will i ever make it to France in time on 2010? Well, this is where Afiq and Pamela comes in.

Yeah, Pamela came all over down from France to see Afiq. And Afiq ignored the fact that he'll be having exam soon that he went off from NZ to see Pamela. That's the answer to my doubt! If they can do it, why cant i? I'm not that close to them even when we were all in IPBA but i really see them as my inspiration today. Financial problem? Nah, i can save money for it. If a girl can save enough money to travel down to Aussie and NZ, what makes you think a cheapskate like me couldnt save enough money to fly to UK and then France? What about examination and assignment? Who said i couldnt finish my assignment on the fly? I still can study, complete my assignment and submit is as long as i have the power of net connection and a handy Microsoft Word with me. Yeah, so what's stopping me? Nothing, Adnin, it's just the pessimist talk in your head. Tell those voice to shut up and do some shizzle! Yeah, with this blogpost made, i vow that i WILL be going to UK and France in 2010. Jawapan friggin' Muktamad!!! YOSH!!!

And those reading this blogpost and having that idea that I cant do it. Well, sit back, relax, open your mouth wide and watch me.

"YES! YES! YES! I FEEL GREAT! I FEEL STRONGER! I CAN DO THIIIIIIS!" (Picollo, 1998) :p

This week on Delaqroux Inc Updates

2009-06-03T13:05:00.002+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates!

There isnt much to be updated at the moment so, while i'm in the library, downloading Episode 8 of Fullmetal Alchemist 2 (Yep, the remake is out. Checkout www.fmaportal.com for free subbed downloads!), let me just update you on what is up with my world right now.

Okay.. uh...*looks around*. As i've just told you, i am in the library and due to the fact that it's hot on exam season at the moment, i bet everyone here is for the purpose of studying.. well not everyone; almost everyone (yes, i'm here blogging and downloading movies.. :p). Then again, i'm not saying that i'm so relaxed out coz i wont be having any exam. As a matter of fact, i will in the next 1 hour and 47 minutes. Its just that i'm not quite in the mood to study. I want to sleep. Its annoying how its winter where all mammals are supposed to be hibernating but the sorry species of homo sapiens have to stay up and study for exam or at least complete their assignment. Yeah, i have one assignmnet due this friday but meh, dont feel like doing that too. Plus, for the exam, we already have the question. Yep, its true. All printed out nicely on a white sheet of A4 paper, given by our lecturer. No leaking. That's just how the procedure is. Makes you wonder when IPBA lecturer keep on leaking the question out and i got really upset about it, maybe the should have just give us the question officially. Its gonna be leaked out anyways and they want to try their hardest to get zero failures everytime; so why not just give us the questions beforehand.

Afterall we, IPBArians, are ungrateful brats who will never learn from anything.. What difference will that do?

Back to the update, it seems like i'm really sleepy these days. And ironically, i miss all those sleepless nights. Yep, yesterday, we were up studying for our LING211 assignment (yeah, i do study!) up til 3am in the morning. Of course, my friends were whining and sighing about staying up late but me, i'm just happy to be among those few still alive when others are dead asleep. Doesnt that just give you a purpose for a night. And like how i use to say, if you minimize your sleep, you'll feel like you're alive longer. Yep, it does. Try calculate by yourself. If you have 24 hours to be alive in a day, you spent 8 hours asleep at night, and for some people who cant have a day without afternoon naps on the average of 2 hours. That's 10 hours off your alive-time. Live is short and when the guy said "live life to the fullest" i dont think he meant partying and all that crap, i interpret that as just simply being awake. I know it make no sense but if you are still reading up til this point, i bet it does make some sense to you.

Aaaaaanywho... FMA uploaded up til 54 percent in just 15 minutes. Damn, i love fast net connection.

Finally, for those who are unaware, i'll be travelling to NZ in this winter break. Yeah, the thought of it is gay... i mean.. happy, i cant shake the feeling like the whole world is not letting me travel. First there's the global epidemic of swine flu. There were some cases in NZ and thats bad enough. Then, there were cases of swine flu carriers aboard a ship. So maybe travelling on an enclosed travelling vessel isnt really a good idea. THen, there were cases of swine flu carriers aboard an airplace. So, yeah, maybe travelling on an enclosed travelling FLYING vessel isnt really a good idea. Now, to top it of, planes been crashing worldwide, ecspecially the AirFrance plane that just go missing over the Atlantic Ocean not to long ago.. That's scary.. Gosh... hope my flight will go smooth. I'm getting freaked out. Yet again, of course, when in state where we are really eye-opened due to some important event, anything coincidental around us will be deducted to have significance on ourself and what we did/do/will do. That's just how humans work i guess. But still, i just hope everything will be good.

Aaaand... my downloading is not moving anymore... wtheck??

Of Sushi, Zombie and Ivy

2009-06-01T21:33:00.002+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates

Just last friday, i really had the most kickass night ever in Sydney. Well, not to say its that kickass but it wasnt that bad and yep, had a lot of fun. Best night ever in Sydney so far eh? Me happy! Wheee~~!! So yeah, got alot of shots throughout the entire night but somehow, facebook stupid uploader thingy wont work so guess its back with text. They say a picture contains a thousands words, but a thousand words, my friends, is what makes a picture... and... yeah... so back to blogging!

Sushi:
It all began with me going to the Final Fling party at the Admin. Well, it wasnt really as hyped up as the poster implied and truth to tell (and seriously, there wasnt anything flinging), i wasnt even planning to go at all. And to my 'surprise', none of my dear Cohort 5 comrades wanted to go so yeah, if i am to go there, i'm just gonna stick out like a social outcast. But then, in the very last minute, Risa gave me a call and asked me if i am going. I learned that she still wanted to go after Alia decided not to go in the last minute. So yep, i learned that the party is at 5pm, my MiCF meet starts at 6.00pm. Hmm.. maybe i could give it a stop-by. Maybe i can get a free drink or dinner; that'd be good! So yep, off i go with lil Risa.

Well, indeed there were free drinks and food (muehheheheheh.. cheapo'r'us) so i stayed for awhile with Risa. In our conversation, Risa told me that she'll be going to the city tonight. City!!!? Gosh... the sound of the word.. its like music to my ears... yeah, seriously, i am in love with Sydney ever since my last walk around Harbour bridge at dusk after the MCA Zine fair. so i asked her on what she'll be doing there at this hour. And Risa's answer was short and simple as usual; "dunno". Well, friggin good enough for moi!!! Dunno means not sure and to be unsure means uncertainty and to be uncertain opens the possibility of randomness! I AM IN!! Darkie, what about MiCf? Huh? What MiCf? Never heard of it... whooooot....

So yeah, we ended up in the city and... it was raining.. and on top of it all, its winter rain so you can bet how freezing it was. We rendezvous with Risa's classmates in QVB and off we go to enjoy the night with.... dinner. Yeah, the other guys havent had their dinner yet. Ben, one of Risa's buddies told us of Sushi Train and how the sushis there are much cheaper compared to elsewhere. Well, i am aware i took my dinner already but hey, we are going to have a long night ahead of us? Why not stock up the stomach first, no?

Sushis = awesomeness, nuff said.

Zombie:
So next up, we took a train to Circular Quay. It wasnt a long ride but meh, its too wet to be walking outside. Well... not wet enough for me and pretty much, i dont mind the rain but nah, let's just stick with the crowd, shall we? When we reached the circular quay station, our stop is immediately right in front of our nose. It's that big classical looking building overlooking the circular quay! I did walk passed it everytime i'm in circular quay and i always thought its some formal government building but no, the building was actually a library! So what are we to do in a library at night? Well, amazingly there's a really awesome cafe on the top floor and yeah, that will be our next stop! So what is a Zombie? Hmmm... for me to know and you to find out. lolz. But let's just say, undead never been this everlastingly awesome!

But a point here; the cafe overlooks the whole circular quay and imagine, the sight of harbour bridge at night, glimmering with a gentle glow of lights, creating a visage of glittering mirage on the water underneath. It's the kind of sight that is enough to make people go, "holy shit.." not the loud kind of "holy shit" but the breathless, whispery type of "holy shit".. well, you know what i mean.

And on top of it all, Sydney's light and music (or colour, i'm not sure) month is still on and i tell you, the Oprah's house is in a different colour! It's red with some splashes of yellow! Simply majestic! When i tell people afterwards, everyone just go like "meh.. its red.. i know" No! You dont know! Go check for yourself and you'll find out "red" isnt enough to describe it. Imagine, the scene was enough to make all 5 of us (including another extra member to our group who came slightly later) go "ooooooohh..." Its like a building that you are always aware to be there and one time you go check it out, its in a whole different paintjob. And not just ordinary paintjob but an awesome paintjob. That is what i meant by how majestic it is.

Ivy:
It was 11pm and like a real frog underneath the coconut shell (it's a Malay proverb.. yeah, weird, i know) i was the only one asking everyone around me "isnt the last bus has passed?" Everyone was like "no". So yeah, the last bus hasnt passed (okay, i better stop saying that) Yeah, now that i think of it, this is actually my first night out this late in Sydney. My latest was during MArdi Gras but that was barely even 12am. And i had a night out with my other group gathering til 1am but i had someone to drive me home that time. So yeah, this is my first! WHOO! And i am in Circular Quay somemore, the best place there is to hangout at night! double WHOO!

Wait... so after our fireworks watching night in darling harbour the other day and we cancelled out the plan to checkout Luna Park because someone said the last bus is at 9pm.. what the heck was that about!?

Anyways, we decided to hit some clubs around the area. We checked out The Argle but somehow, we ended up spending a short 20 minutes inside and went out. Somehow, according to Ursula, the Argle isnt the best place to dance for music, The Ivy is. And yep, somehow, Ben popped up something i also had in mind, "is Ivy a stripclub?" Why? Well, i dunno.. Ivy just sounds so.. well.. stripper-ish. Haha... Not that I mind! lolz. But Ursula said no so... meh... (slight dissapointment there) But stripper club or not, the place was awesome. The size of the place is one thing, the environment is another. The dance floor range from three different floors, the garden-ish area, the verandah and the inside. We explored the verandah area but there does not seem to have much space there so we hit the garden dance floor instead. Remember how i told you that the day was wet with rain? Yeah, the garden dance floor was an open sky dance floor only lit with the disco light and the moonlight shine. So under the rain, we danced like, WHOOOO!!! Oh, and now that i'm mentioning it, special thanks to those random other guys who brought umbrellas and danced with them open on the dance floor. lolz.

So yep, had great fun that night. Of course, before you judge me. Partying and clubbing is still not my type of life. Me, unlike people who really go wasted in parties around Sydney and totally lose their head, do not find total out of the world enjoyment in partying. I still prefer a quiet night out with good sceneries, walks and company. Music and dances is just moderate addition that can be fun to be enjoyed now and then but not all of the time. Alas, thats just from my point of view. Regardless, Its just nice to go partying now and then once in awhile and come back at 4am in the morning =)

Annoying people

2009-05-28T12:14:00.007+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates!

And there isnt much to be updated here except the fact that i'm enjoying my life here. T-Zone meets back online (Thanks Shade!), MiCF going wild and fun as usual, Coffee Club still holds its weird activities weekly (but still fun anyways), I crossed two off my to-do list which is to watch the sunset from Harbour Bridge and watching the glow of Sydney's opera house at night, MCA Zine Fair was a kickass success, Night at Darling harbour 50th was awesome and meeting new people never seems to cease. And on top it all, i'll be flying off to NZ in less than a month time for a roadtrip. Yay!

Of course, there's still the examination and the assignment. Up til this point i havent gotten anymore HD (just passes all the time) but meh, who cares. I found some people pretty annoying when they keep on saying "i dont give a damn about exams", "i dont give a shit about grades" and "i think we should stop being so exam oriented" but when it comes to exam and assignment feedbacks, they're be the camping outside the office to take their results and start asking one another for their grades, and not to mention; looking for the lecturer to ask about their marks. I mean, if you want to be so grade-oriented then by all means, go ahead. But stop telling me a thing and ended up doing another. It's just annoying. Plus, everyone keep complaining about Malaysian education being exam oriented. Of course, we had some bad exam-oriented times but do we have to keep on doing that? Now, you'll bug your teachers for your grades. Who knows? In another few years time, you'll bug YOUR students for grades and they'll be brainwashed to be exam oriented. Seriously, wth..

But, meh, whatever

Delaqroux Must Die(t)

2009-05-21T23:18:00.002+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates!

Well, i do admit that i was the one who came up with such smart-ass quote; "Thoult shall eat if thy stomach wants food" just a month ago. I mean, yeah, it is based on a rational reason. The season is changing to winter and us, humans, just another species among the range of the many mammals on earth, will heed this nature call to become less active and consume more food (something like hibernating). It's just another natural way for our body to keep itself warm during winter, by getting extra calories intake and trying as less as possible to release lesser energy. Thus, yeah, if you dont feel hungry yet you feel like eating non-stop of late, it's just a natural nature's call to survive the harsh extremes of winter and you should answer it, right?

Left! Wrong! Salah! And all the other antonyms of "right"!!

Just a few moments ago, i saw an old photo of myself posing in front of my wardrobe's mirror. It was the picture when i first arrived in MacQ so i thought "hmm.. it's been three months now, maybe i should take a shot of myself with exactly the same pose and arrange them chronologically" That way, its like a cool flick, being able to witness how time has changed you. So i allign the two pictures together. Indeed, time did gave some mods on me; longer hair, new glasses, (self-proclaimed) taller figure, thicker clothing... wait... thicker clothing? Thus, i zoomed in to the picture and yeah, i do look 'thicker'. In a few short analysis (like, taking a ruler and measuring the increment of thickness from the Ad in the old photo and the Ad in the new photo), i concluded that, yeah, it was just my sweater. Haha. Whatever hell was i thinking. Of course i look thicker in my warm sweater, it wont be a sweater if it isnt thick. Oh, silly me.. hahhahahalolololollmaorolflolololcopter.

But suddenly, something just struck me like a knife of paranoia slicing through a timid heart of butter. I do look thicker in those parts of my body which is covered by my sweater and i put the sweater as the excuse. But what of the parts where my skin is exposed?. No, not cleavage, i dont have any. I meant; my face. It's pretty hard to do the ruler measuring thing to extract the truth. So this calls for Adobe Photoshop (funny how this tool which i claim to make lies out of people's pictures is now my tool for helping me uncover the truth in mine). So i put the new picture as a background and overlay it with the old picture. Afterwards, i reduce the opacity of the old picture to a point where i can see the new picture underneath it for me to make a comparison- specifically around the face. Does my face seems larger?

And to my horror, HOLY SHIT!!! I AM CHUBBIER!!!????

Yeah, i am. Not so much but there is the difference there. Dammit! Why the face!! WHY THE FAAAAAAAACE!!! Yeah, it's true. After ignoring the cold air in my room and getting rid of all the clothing on me (No, I mean, my sweater and the tshirt underneath.. why the fuck would i take my pants off??), i can be 100% sure that my figure still looks the same. No extra tires anywhere. Phew... I dont look any f.... ffff.... aaaaa.... aaaattt...er (cannot say the F-Word) SO HOW COME ONLY MY FACE IS CHUBBIER!!?? Gah!!! Why??? WHHHHYY???? Nancie Saw!!!???? (uh, yeah... i always tell her how her head is bigger than her body..) I'm in her case now!! (eventhough for her case, it's just me playing with my imaginative teasing- she doesnt really have that big of a head... [or does she??]). At that moment, all i can think of is Wriggly's Chewing Gum's stupid add about how chewing their friggin gums can be a facial exercise. But that's not the point! I must lose that f..... ffff..... in my face!! Anything to it! Even if it's the last thing i'll do...

...DELAQROUX MUST DIE(T)!!!!!

"Let there be randomness"

2009-05-18T20:15:00.003+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates!

It's funny how we always think that life is predictable. Well, i mean, it does get predictable at times. Take Dr. William's EDUC260 class: knock on table, stand on your feet, high-5 your partner, and 1-2-3 WOOSH. But that's not the point there. It's just fascinating how you think you know how orderly your daily life will be, and suddenly something small take a tiny bit of twist, and your whole big lot of life's perspective is tweaked in a very gigantic manner.

See, it happened on my random trip to Macquarie centre. I wasnt intending to go to MacQ Centre at all until i heard that Farouk and co. wanted to get some groceries. THat was when i remembered that i wanted to ask about upgrading my handset. While i wasnt planning to do that, fearing that 3 (a phone company in Aussie) will dissapoint me once again, i did tagged along and proceed to the nearest 3 outlet. Sure enough, 3 dissapointed me once again. Turned out that the so-called 'upgrading' was merely an euphemistic term for "buying a new phone and a whole postpaid plan altogether". The old wound about my old crappy handset i got three months ago was once again, wide open. Well, the handset i got had its memory card reader faulty and it pisses me off the fact that the 3 staffs refuse to repair it, blaming on my memory card instead. So, i sat down outside the 3 outlet and gave the technical support a call. I did that three months ago and it yielded no result but i was thinking of calling a 3 staff member so i can yell at him/her. At least that'll get rid some anger out of me.

So, yeah, i was pissed. And sure enough, the crappy 3 technical stuff gave me the same "oh no sarr (indian accent), it iz very pohsibble that your memory cahrd is foulty (faulty), not de phoone. That is aoll i can tell you. Now, take it and go (well he didnt say that last line but according to Russell Peters, that's how an Indian convincing you stuff; "take it and go")" So, i got mad but it's just something that stops me from bursting out. That something was what we call a transfer call line. Hell yeah! They keep on passing my call to like, 5 different lines! First, it was the careline, then the support unit, then the technical team, and then the careline again and then the technical team once again! I couldnt even blow my lid off. I mean, it will be weird if i'm to suddenly just explode in front of a new line where the 3 staffs havent hardly start any conversation with me. But in all, the call took an hour! And when the guy go "thank you, call again", i put down teh phone and i didnt get to yell at nobody. I was super friggin pissed off!! I stormed my way out of MacQ Centre with such evil thoughts like, i want to kidnap a 3 staff and put him in a SAW V like game where he have to answer 1000 phone complains or otherwise a bomb planted in his head will blow up.

But just as i was going up the escalator, i heard some rattling sound in front of me. It sounded like little beads dropping on the floor. Sure enough, it was little beads. It belonged to this old guy in front of me and all those beads came from his bracelet which snapped off coincidentally. To make things worse, his bracelet came off at the escalator, so yeah, all those beads are, for sure, scattered beyond taking - what's more with all the people using the escalator. So, me, in a bad mood just went off like everybody else. I mean, i doubt that old man will even bother to try fetch back all those little beads on the escalator so yeah, no use stopping. That was when i heard that loud shrill sound in my head again (yeah, i can hear it when i feel guilty or did something bad.. figuratively or literally? Well, you decide) and thoughts like, what if the bracelet belonged to the old man's children or someone's memento to him? I mean, i lost my wristband and i was upset about it, what's more a bracelet given by someone special perhaps?

That was when i doubled back and saw that the old man was trying to pick up those beads. The escalator was going up so all the beads are lined up in front of the edge of the escalator (i dunno if i'm making any effective imageries here) but with all the people taking off from the escalator, the old guy was having a hard time. So i gave the old guy a hand. And seriously, i dunno if Aussies are so freaking tall that they cant see me at the end of the escalator or they just ramming me for the fun of it. I mean, seriously, while i was trying to fetch those beads, all the other ppl pretended as if i wasnt there at all. But, while i was squatting down to fetch the beads (with some handbags slamming to my face) i realized something, the old man who was behind me gave me a lil pat on the head. Um.. i know it may not sound any special to you (or it may sound awkward to some) but my dad never pat my head so yeah, i love people touching my head (yeah, i'm weird, i know) and this guy is giving me a lil pat as if i am his son, doing something really really good for his dad. I dunno why but all those thoughts about being pissed off with 3 staff members and the people at MacQ centre just went off. It is as if the old man's hand sucked all those evil thoughts out of my brain when his hand touched my head.

Finally, i finished picking up all those beads and the old man was able to point at me and say "good" (I think he's somewhere from the Middle East so i doubt he can speak English) and i just smiled and went off. That explains him patting my head. I guess he couldnt come up with anything to thank me while i wasnt looking at him so a pat was the best he could do. True story; my whole body feels anger-free at that moment. It feels so fresh. I passed by a 3 outlet along the way out and all i can think of is "nah, maybe i dont need any phone upgrades just yet" and went off, skipping happily. It's weird but one thing for sure, it felt friggin good. And on my way back to uni, guess who called me but Muhammad!! (uh.. no, not that Muhammad (s.a.w).. it's just a Muslim friend of mine). I mean, seriously, that was totally out of nowhere and he invited me to an African cultural celebration next week. Seriously, what are the odds of me running to him and him remembering me, as well as him inviting me to his people's cultural celebration. So yeah, it was awesome. Oh, and he told me that he just got to where he is at that moment. And that made me think of all the random encounters i had today.

So yeah, all the randomness of today was actually flowing nicely and occured for a reason;
If i hadnt been to Macquarie Centre, i wouldnt have faced the dissapointment of 3's empty promises
If i hadnt faced the dissapointment of 3's empty promises again, i wouldnt have made my phone call to yell at some 3 staffs
If i hadnt made the phone call to yell at some 3 staffs, i wouldnt have get my phone call dragged for an hour
If i hadnt get my phone call dragged for an hour, i wouldnt have been at the escalator when the old man's bracelet snapped off.
If i hadnt been at the escalator when the old man's bracelet snapped off, i wouldnt have stopped and help the old man
If i hadnt stopped and help the old man, i wouldnt have been at that spot where i encountered Muhammad at that right time.
If i hadnt be on that spot right at that moment, i would never be meeting Muhammad.
If i hadnt met Muhammad, i would never get that invitation to that African cultural event!

So yeah, it all started out with me going to macQ centre for totally random reason; i want to ask about a phone upgrade though i know the answer wont be what i wanted. No, it started way back then that; maybe it started all the way when i decided not to skip Learning support and be at Cheryl's class, or otherwise i wont even be around MacQ uni and MacQ Centre. Or maybe the night before when i posted a blogpost about life's meaninglessness. Mayhaps, if i hadnt post that blogpost up, i would have never made this blogpost today? In any case, yeah, i think better stop here before it goes all the way back to 1989 when i was born. But obviously, it's funny how random occurence makes my faith on the purposeness of my existence grow stronger. Of course, it can be funny too how random events can make me feel worthless to live. But hey, it all started out of nothing at all. Out of randomness. So yeah, maybe life isnt so predictable, life is random, and random is good? =)

That was when God realized that He created the world too orderly, and thus, He said, ": Let there be randomness" - and so, it was good...
(Delaqroux Book of Quotes, 2007)

Fireworks

2009-05-17T14:49:00.002+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates.

Last night was Darling Harbor's 50th Anniversary and there was a firework display. That's pretty much sums everything up last night. Short and brief. The night, the whole event, the fireworks, perhaps life itself. I hate fireworks.

They take very long time to prepare up until it's ready for the main event and for each slightest mistake, their lifespan could just end up in worthless flames of sparks and color. Not to mention a loud bang. Loud yet brief. A loud "bang" yet its existence still remain unknown, gone as fast as the speed of sound. So, what if things take a good turn and they were well up until the main event? They will be in the middle of the stage, yet with the stagelight closed. They will still remain invisible to their eagerly-waiting audience from all walks of life, gathering at the same place for the very same objective; to witness the beauty of something none of them, possibly, know nothing of. And when the time of their life arrives, they were released from their original casket, beautiful, graceful like a butterfly flying away from her coccoon for the very first time. But their existence is short. At least butterflies are free to do what they desire in that precious few days of its lifespan. These performers, on the other hand, are just meant for one thing; perform. A dance gracefully choreographed in a variety of sensation of joy, yet leading to the same finale; dissapearance. Their performance lit the dim stage in the skies, as how they lit up the faces of those marvelling at their beauty below. And as soon as they did, thy dissapear, traceless, unknown to no one as their curtain of darkness shroud back their short stage of existence.

Fireworks. Short and brief. Like a life of a man. Pitiful.

Doki & Nobi: THERE SHE IS!!

2009-05-16T10:19:00.004+08:00

Oh yeah, i realized that i have used the referrence of Doki & Nobi movie in my last blog post right? Actually, they're taken from a flash animation by Sambakza.net regarding a forbidden interspecies love between a cat and a bunny (i was thinking it should be dog and cats but meh..) So anyways, there's 5 episodes in all and the title of the whole series is "There She Is!!" (figured it might actually be Doki & Nobi but Sambakza wasnt actually planning to make a continuation to the first There She is!! installment- so the series are known with that title instead) and as the story progresses on, Doki & Nobi found out that their whole paradise start turning into hell as they were both being discriminated by the society. Doki believes that she's up for anything to love Nobi. But will Nobi feels the same way?

Well, what i have here is of course, property of Sambakza.net and that i owned no rights for the video. just intending to share it with you. This is the third episode for the There She is!! series: Step 3: Doki & Nobi. Be sure to check Sambakza.net or Youtube and watch from Step 1-5! Enjoy!

A Night to Woo: A Life for Who?

2009-05-16T09:23:00.002+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates!

And just last night, i was at this joint meeting between Coffee Club and OCF: " A night to Woo with Geoffrey Woo" (i still think someone who came up with the event's name might still be friggin proud with himself =__=) Anyways, Geoffrey Woo is a Christian singer who wrote and sing his own songs for churches, gatherings and OCF convention (He mentioned that he first wrote his song in the 1st OCF Convention back in 1979... dang.. how old is this guy??). Anyways, his song and his acoustic skill is awesome and yep, definitely a night to w... REMEMBER! Well, i got one of his song recorded inside my camera and i do feel like sharing it here. But i dont know if there'll be any copyright infringement later on. After all, Mr. Woo picked those songs out of his newly released album "Geogeny" so yeah, i do recommend it regardless if you're Christian/non-Christian looking for inspiration, a word of wisdom, spiritual reflection or just plain good music and lyrics.

Anyways, if you've been following my twitter feeds (TWEETER TWEETER TWEETER!!... sorry, it's so irresistable to do that), you'll found out that this brain of mine still works like a mean pink labour machine regardless of what passive state i desire to put it in. So yeah, there was this one point where Geoffrey Woo sang this song about Ayisha (i dunno who that girl is though) looking for love and how the song talks about how God already has someone waiting for her in the horizon... Ohkaaaaay... Well, i have no offence against the song or such beliefs but something that Mr. Woo said struck me a lil. He was telling us a story about his mom who got married with a non-Christian and the guy sorta 'converted' to Christianity. But at some point in their life, the guy chose to get married to another lady, ignore everything about Christianity's teaching about poligamy being forbidden, and just, well, get married to a second wife. So Woo told us how their life was complicated. And his moral of the story, if you're a girl who walks in the light (as in a Christian i suppose), find a guy who also walks in the light. Okay, it does make perfect sense but what about those guys in the dark? Woo gave a chuckle and said something like, unless you have some way to have one walking on the lightside and another on the darkside, then why bother putting your life in such complication. Wait, what??

Please, pardon me if i'm analyzing things wrong and yeah, i cant stop my head from thinking and the only purpose of me writing this blogpost down here, and perhaps my whole reason for living, is for one of the purpose of my living; to be enlightened. Thus, enlighten me =)

Well, somehow, i dont really agree with the whole two sides thing. Of course, the theory makes perfect sense, if you're a cat then find a cat as your mate, dont find a bunny (referrence to the Doki & Nobi movie)or you'll just looking for trouble. If you're under the light then find a guy who's also under the light - lesser the relationship stress. But, as a first hand experience here; what if YOU are the guy walking in the darkside? Specifically, yeah, yours truly. See, my ex was a Christian and i am a Muslim, but somehow, for some friggin reasons, we got in a relationship. Now let's say my ex was the one in the light and me, being non-Christian is the one not walking in the light. I thought it was a bad move to get in a relationship and i tried to say that to her so many times, that we should break up coz there's no future for us (i'm never on the idea of converting so yeah). But milady was a woman of great faith in God, she insisted that she believe everything exist for a reason and that God made her to meet me. And it's not all about religious conversion crap that we normally heard of in a relationships, it's just pure way of God teaching people how to love one another, regardless the difference or which side we are in. That's the point where if so such beliefs are true, than religion is such a beautiful thing. Make sense doesnt it? So, figuratively, i asked her if i should go to the light side for her then. And she answered that i may stay where i am. Regardless on which side we are walking on, we can always hold hands and be for each other.

Yeah, my ex says the sweetest things, i know. But time progresses on and the guy walking in the darkside let go off her hand and thus they were seperated. I figured that it might just be a good idea for her to find some other guy on her side, and me on mine. But i regretted every bit of that decision up until now. And if it's my religious belief tell me that it's the right thing to do, why is my concious tell me that it's not? So yeah, personal reflection here. What do you think about being someone walking in any particular side (i wont use which side is darker or brighter) and falling in love with someone on the other? Is that a curse or you digging your own grave pit, or do you take it as something that occur for a reason? Or are you the type of person who will grab the person you love to your side; while it may be a responsible thing to do with you being religious and all, but i kinda think it's a little selfish empathetically... or maybe it's not? What do you think?

Single, ready to mingle... but not really available?

2009-05-14T22:54:00.003+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates

And yeah, it's currently 1.03am in Marsfield, New South Wales, Australia; temperature of 16 degrees (dang.. no wonder it's kinda warm tonight..) and i'm up and blogging..

Well, actually there's nothing much to blog about. There are actually but i dont think it's worth blogging about. Most of them are all about how i've been spending my time after the Easter break and hell yeah, i miss the break. While i do feel like i miss classes and meeting people and stuff, there's one thing about having holidays that allows you to just be yourself. And when Darkie says be himself, he meant the type in which do things that doesnt make sense at all (like walking 30 km to and around Sydney for example. lolz). Regardless, i am still having that sort of prob where i want to do all those shitty, crazy stuff but it's no fun doing it all by myself. Yep, 3 months in Aussie and still la comrade en nada. I mean, seriously, sleeping in Bondi Beach sounds like a fun plan but to actually endure approximately 6 hours of night without any company? That's enough to make me get myself a ball and call it John (I cant remember the name of the ball Tom Hank named in Cast Away so i'll just go with John). Well, of course, i endured a night in Melaka all by myself for almost 8 hours but another important thing is that the main reason for me to be pulling that crazy stunt off is to watch the sunrise (normally, ppl go with the saying that sunsets at the beach are awesome - i wanna see how sunrises at the beach looks like). And making my point here, watching the sunrise is just gonna make me think about Adam, Daryl, Annie and Amy when we watch our last sunrise in Genting last year. That's gonna be sucky coz it's like watching a big post-it note saying how alone i am.. So, before i get myself a company, Sleeping at Bondi will have to wait unfortunately... Sigh..

Oh yeah, now that we've talked about being alone, let's talk about me being single. I dare say that one of my reason for not being able to sleep is that i am thinking of someone of late. Yeah, she's miles and miles away from where i am at right now and recently, we talked with each other and old sweet memories just keep popping back. And for some strange reason, i'm getting this weird urge to just give her a call and tell her that i want to be her friggin boyfriend.. Haha. Yeah, randomness, i know but it's just this scary thought of me, seeing her again and she's engaged (Oh yeah, speaking of which, my ex is officially married... pfft...) been haunting me and...

gee... there's someone screaming outside right now... **takes a peek**

...and it's kind of like a scary thought; being single for life or having to submit to my grandma's arranged marriage plan.. yep, anything but those. Now before you start judging me, take your foot and shove it up your mouth; i'm not actually proposing to that so, no, it's just a random talk - nothing's for real (if it is, i'll update you on that). But anyways, i do admit i'm a guy with the stand where "i wanna have nice clean free fun at least in my life, and getting married can wait" and i have met alot of comrades standing with those position as well. But as time progresses, they got coupled and i'm the only one left with the nice, clean, free, single, one man army, fun. Get my point there? It's like, i have some buddies of mine who are single, claim to want to remain single, met some guy/girl and insisted that they're still want to remain single, and then, POOF! They got friggin married! I mean, seriously, scary thoughts... Brr...

Yet again, the thought of actually having a commitment is a.. meh.. (yeah, that's the best word for it; "meh"). I dont want to be alone forever and i dont want to be in a relationship. I'm not afraid of commitment and responsibilities, mind you. It's just that, i dont want to have either extremes. I just want to have freedom and i dont want to have it alone. Will it be possible to have a lady friend who's single and both of us agree to keep each other company and remain single until death do us part?

.....FLiptoric CLyptonic.. I guess soon a black TV-headed robot going to pop out of my head huh?

Crouching tiger, hidden blogger

2009-05-02T23:22:00.006+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Updates!

And yyyyeah, before i begin, let us take a short moment of silence in remembrance of May 1st where i bought my first blanket, like, WHOO!! Hell yep, i've been in Aussie for almost three months now and no matter how cold it gets for the other Malaysian, i still refuse to buy myself a blanket or a quilt. Well, no, i wasnt acting all showy about how cold-resistant my body is to everyone nor am i feeding any fetish for self torture (trust me, if there's one guy who love to run around outside only in a thin layer of a t-shirt and complain how cold it is but still refuse to get inside, it'll be Vimal. Fetish copyrighted.. not my thing). The thing is, firstly, i'm a cheapskate who thought "why do i need a 20 dollars blanket when i can wrap myself up in my already owned sweater- for free?". Second, i always on survey on the cheapest, yet most efficient blanket outthere. I caught one and it's called a thermal blanket so i was like, "oooh.. it;s blanket with a thermal.. fancy!" Yep, of course, it is fancy but the price tag is even fancier: 26 dollars! So yeah, that's one of the reason for me not getting a blanket too, i'm waiting for that thermal blanket to be on sale so i can get it for cheaper price. In case you're wondering if i ever got that thermal blanket, YES! I own a thermal blanket now! It was on a slight discount of 20 dollars so i bought it. Plus, one of the nights earlier, the temperature dropped all the way to 7 degrees and i figured, if this is the temperature during fall, what of winter? GET A BLANKET!

Oh and speaking of warming oneself up, i need to post a reminder to myself here to start darting around for sleeping bags. And why would i need one? Obviously to travel around! Yep, on the last Easter Break, i met this lady friend of mine, Enid (pronounced as "init"... so all this while it was "init" blyton??) during my wine and cheese tasting trip in Hunter Valley. So yeah, turned out that Enid have.. well... kind of a crazy head with all sorts of crazy ideas. To prove it off, out of the blue, she posted this one request to whoever's out there who would like to join her to WALK ALL THE WAY from macQ uni to Sydney.. Me, with what i call a walking gene inside my blood, answered to her summon and thus we walked. Hell yeah, it was fun! But back to where it comes about the sleeping bag, the walking trip to Sydney was nice, but i thought it will be more fun to actually walk even further than that (Yep, 30 km is not enough for me) but, with a little twist. Instead of putting all 30km of walking in a single day, why not i make it like a road trip? Minus the car. It's just me, my feet, my walking shoes, and my sleeping bag so i can crash in my own self made hotels in scenic spots around Sydney. That'll be awesome no? So yeah, i'm gonna get myself a sleeping bag, and to give it a trial run, imma going to spend a night in Bondi Beach/Manly Beach and watch the morning sun rising from the ocean line..

Well, if there're "motels" for people in motor vehicles on a road trip to crash in for the night, and, as how Adam believes it, "hotels" are a place for people to crash in for the night and bring hos with them, why cant there be "wotels" for people without a motor vehicle, but walking on a road trip instead to crash in for the night and not be able to afford hos to stay in hotels. Yeah, wotels.

So yeah, my last two week break was awesome. To sum it up; there's the Melbourne City trip, cruise n dolphin watching in Nelson Bay, sandboarding in the dunes of Birubi Beach, Tanasha's graduation and dinner, cheese and wine tasting in Hunter Valley, dinner and sushi at Tanasha's place, chestnut picking in Kookatonga, horse riding trip somewhere in Mt Irvine, Royal Easter Show in Sydney Olympic Park and 12 hours walk to and around Sydney city. And that's just for a two weeks break.Cant wait for the oncoming 2 months break and believe me, with that long of a period, i will do some serious travelling alright! Oh, and surprisngly, i thought i spent a whole lot of money for the whole two weeks of break but the last time i checked my account (a few days back), i am still up and running with around 2600 dollars in my account + 450 dollars with Alia, Risa and Tanasha. So yep, current target travelling destination for the next break: NZ and Brissy!!!!!

But now to hunt for a sleeping bag that i can afford.. sigh...

Melbourne Ep3: DILLUSIONIZED WITH MELBOURNE

2009-04-25T20:51:00.003+08:00

Delaqroux Inc. Updates LiVE in Melbourne!

So we had the intro, the diversion crap, the friggin @#$% Malaysian family, the emo moment at Oldtown and the Comedy Festival; i guess its about time we wrap this thing up. For one thing is because we're running way off the submission date (whereby i was in Melbourne two weeks ago and i have not still cover the story of Melbourne) and the second, it's kinda letting the other blogpost to get clog up. Yeah, i tend not to make and other blogpost before a series of blogpost regarding a particular story is done. So yep, unless i finish up this Melbourne series, i might not move on with any other blogpost. So let's cut to the chase now shall we?

The time i've finished the coffee, i managed to sight see the city a lil bit more until i've discovered that Harry POtter parody over at Melbourne town hall gonna be starting in 15 minutes. So, i rushed back, got the ticket and watch the whole play. Well, the play was good but not to say it's something totally thumbs up. For one thing, it is a little bit dissapointing. Of course, the fact that the whole 7 book series of Harry Potter was narrated and comically acted in just 1 hour (and in addition to that, with just 2 actors) but then again, it wasnt something someone couldnt pull off. Give me the whole 6 Star Wars Saga to summarize and pair me up with someone crazy, i bet i could pull off my own Star Wars parody show. Alas, it was a good play but somehow, something distracted me while i was enjoying the play. It was a message from Risa and she asked me whether will it be okay for me if i go back to Sydney without her tonight. Well, actually, it wasnt even a question that Risa texted me. She was just telling me that she met some LaCrosse teammates of hers and thought she would want to hang back for one extra night. So, basically, she was just tellling me to go back on the ten hours train ride alone - not asking me whether if it's okay with me or not - and not as if i am to say that it is not okay, she would change her mind - and not that if i am to say that it is not okay and she would change her mine, that will make any difference on my train ride later as she will be asleep 95% of the trip anyway - so yeah, i said okay (not that she even asked if it's okay.. pfft).

By the time the show ended, i'm kind of lost. Not the i-dont-know-which-way-to-go lost but the type of lost where you dont know which is which and what is there to do. See, my original plan was to hangout around the city and meet Risa at one of the station for some few last hours sight seeing. But now that she is gone, it is all open entertainment mode!! Wheee~~!!! But the only problem i had was, was there any more sight seeing worth doing anymore? I checked the maps and i found out that, after Oldtown in Chinatown, i have covered most of the stars in the vicinity - the remaining ones are either dead obvious boring or too far for me to reach. So, in the end, i asked a total stranger on what should i be doing. Yeah, believe that's me. Some people, when they get totally lost, they try to find something to do. Some other ask their friends on what they should be doing next. I'm in neither, i ask a stranger on what should i be doing next. So the guy next to me told me that i might as well hang around the town hall for another show as there'll be The Dellusionist performing soon. I never heard of the group but the guy told me that they've been on David Letterman's show once and several other talkshows that i have never heard of. Well, sounds good enough for me then. Besides, the gazzettes on the performance was interesting.

It says; the Dellusionist plays the survivors after a nuclear meltdown, taking refuge in Bunker number 5 - hiding from the radiated pigeons. Yeah, wtf... and "wtf" means intriguing in my book so yep, here goes another 20 bucks and i'm in the audience seat! The performance was hillarious! It's awesome how they manage to get short funny scenes similar to a cartoon show but at the same time, kind of "Family Guy-ish" and surprisingly, the end part of the performance actually made me feel like crying! No, not because of anyone dead - it is a comedy show after all and no one should have died but yeah, it's just a cool, touching ending. Of course, telling the ending here isnt gonna make any spoiler out as the Comedy Fest is already over but nah, i guess i'll save it. I might be writing some play script one of these days and i have the right idea how should i end the script =D

After the show, it was already getting dark and my train leaves in another one hour. Little did i know that i have walked a helluva way following those little stars on my map, that it takes almost an hour and a half to actually walk there. But noooo.. i was too busy taking pictures around the place to notice. But somehow, i managed to stumble across the dude who told me to catch the Delussionist show and the dude even recognized me. So i stopped picture taking for a lil conversation. That is when i told him of my marvellous adventure of travelling around in Melbourne by myself and not just that i astounded him, i amazed his friends as well. And uh... before you start glaring at me thinking why am i so full of myself, yes, i am so full of myself and yes, i am going to get a hit back by karma for being too full of myself. One of the dude's friends asked me if i can join them to hang out for dinner. So yep, considering the group consist of both guys and girls and possibilities that they're some psycho gay guy-raping team is very minimal (yeah, i'm still traumatized by what Madam Caroline told me about guy rapist in Aussie) i thought i might as well hangout a little bit. So i said, yeah, my train leaves in another hour so i guess i could hangback for half an hour or so.

That was when the dude asked me what train am i catching. And that was when i told him that it is CountryLink and that was when he guessed that i'm taking the train from Southern Cross station and that was when they told me that Southern Cross station is friggin miles away from here. So yeah, aside to the effect where the camera stays in a distance to my face while the background seems to zoom in closer towards the camera, i start feeling the chill that i am gonna miss the train and i'm going to sleep in the streets tonight all by myself with no one to accompany me! That's Lee - not me! (KLIA incident last year where Lee missed a plane.. Sorry Lee) So i told the guys that i must be off and so i did.

Somehow, i always believe that i am able to walk 50% faster at nightime without getting tired. But running twice as fast as i could walk normally, i basically moved at 200% my movement speed... yeah, it's not making much sense. Dont mind me... But the point is that, i ran as fast as i can. But before i realize it, i havent been running in a while and yeah, this is the first time that i ran full-speed since i arrive in Australia. The feeling of wind gushing through as i moved so fast was so satisfying. And it was Melbourne's chilly night air we're talking about here, not Malaysia's sticky dusty KL night air. Plus, the city of Melbourne, the gothic buildings, the tram cars, the streets filled with old pavements for the sidewalk; looked glimmerish at night. Not sure whether was it because that i was running too fast to figure out how the city actually looked like but one thing for sure, nothing could stop me running that time and hell yeah, i enjoyed it!

So i managed to get on the platform on time 10 minutes before the train started moving and damn, was that a narrow call or what? But in all, i am so in love with Melbourne. I love Sydney for the city hustle and bustle but there is just something about Melbourne similar to how it was when i spent my night sleeping on the streets of Melaka last year. Kinda have that authentic feel to the streets and yep, guess i'lll be back here one more time before i leave Aussie for good.

Melbourne Ep.2: TASMANIA HAWTNESS & "TAKE YOUR TIME"

2009-04-19T20:37:00.003+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Update on
The (mel)Bourne Supremacy Ep.2!!

So, yeah, there was that Malay family who pissed me off alright. But imma not gonna let that ruin my day. So after i walked away from them and off further and further away from Harbour City, i realized, i have no idea where i should be going next. So, it's back to hunting those little stars scattered all over the map then. The closest one would be at the stadium and yeah, considering the size of that dome, i thought i might as well give it a look.

By the time i reached there, the whole place was freaking full with people. Plus, all of them wore two different sets of jerseys. One was yellow and black while the other, blue and white (Yeah, like, contrasting colors.. phew). So yep, there was a match going on and finally, i decided that before i move on to the next scenic spot, maybe i should at least ask someone on which team is fighting which. So i pretended to look over some team merchantdise and the one who was closest to where i stood, shall by my information counter. Thus, there was this family guy and i asked him as planned. He gladly told me: "Oawh, we 'ave the Tasmanian Hawthorns (i finally figured that it was "hawthorns" after looking at the hawk logos on the t-shirt. It sounded at first as if the guy was saying "Tasmanian Hawtness".. sorry, i'm still kinda coping up with aussie accent) uhgainst the Mazduh Kang'roo ere todai. As y'can see ere mate, i'm all up rootin' for the Hawthorns. See no jersai you have on. You ere for the match?" So i said, nope, i'm not and i told him that i'm still new in Australian and to all its sport frenzies. And i swear to God the guy told me "Awww, well, it's not too laite (late) to start learn'n somethin' new todai. You ave som free time to spare?" I nodded. "How 'bout you get this ere jersey (shows Tasmanian jersey), and i'll buy you a ticket fer you to get insoide- all on me!" So yeah, i was like, whoa... wh-what?? The guy insisted that he wants to buy me a free ticket as long as i start my first journey into the world of football by being a Tasmania Hawthorns fan. I was this close to making a deal with the guy but then i saw that the game will only start at 1.30pm and probably going to end at 4.30pm. By that time, Risa will be back from Lacrosse and i would probably get no Melbourne sight seeing done at all. Hence, i turned that golden oppoturnity off (shoot me for i broke my "Yes Man" resolution... sigh) Thus, my journey continues!

p/s: Note how nice Aussies can be and how friggin rude the Malaysian family was? pfft...

So i went sight seeing all over and yeah, Melbourne city is awesome! Most of the buildings are new but there are always a building with a Gothic architecture on every corner. And aside to that, there are plenty of things on the sidewalk to see too like Street perfomers, Royal Carriage passing by, Classic looking tram cars etc. etc. Before i knew it, i reached Melbourne Town Hall and yeah, that place was full of people too. Curious, i went in and had a peek. It was the International comedy fest and there was like over 30 shows on just for today, some in the Town Hall, others scattered all throughout the city. As a matter of fact, even Pablo Fransisco will be on tonight at 10pm! Yeah, kind of make me regret that i'm not staying here for the day. But then again, there was some Harry Potter parody and the sound of it was interesting. The gazzete commentary reads, "All 7 Harry Potter books in 1 hour and hysterically pulled off! 4 STARS!" Sounds good enough for me. Looking at the time, the show will just take an hour so yep, its not gonna eat so much of my time. I might as well get a ticket and see the show and so i did! The show didnt start immediately and thus i have tour around the vicinity first. One of those stars lead me to Chinatown in Melbourne City! Yep, it really had that Asian feeling to it and not to mention, Malaysian too. Before i even realize it, i found myself at a Chendol Restaurant (Whoo-hoo! Chendol! OM NOM NOM NOM!), a Chinese food shop that says Sambal Kampung (Sambal Kampung! OM NOM NOM NOM!), an Indonesian stall that serves nice hot Nasi Lemak (Nasi Lemak! OM NOM NOM NOM!) and finally... Oldtown... White Coffee... Yeah, there was an Oldtown White Coffee outlet. By that time, i was overwhelmed by emotions. Tried to wash it off by thinking, nah, it's probably just an unofficial copy of the brand or maybe, some outlet with coincidentally with the memorable Oldtown i know back in Malaysia. But alas, i brought myself in just to be sure. Effing hell! IT IS OLDTOWN!! The menus are almost the same! There's Oldtown Nasi Lemak, there's Adam's Nasi Rendang and Hot Cocoa, there's Jessica's... uh... what did she use to order again (oldtown memorably i think)? Well, the point is: it's the same effing OLDTOWN!! I still refuse to believe it but my soul was already pierced from all sides by emotions. No, not the teary ones; that's obnoxious. It's the "I-miss-those-moments" ones. Finally, i found myself ordering Oldtown Ice blended white coffee, partially to prove that it cant be the same white coffee i used to have, but the other intention was just to have a taste of that moment again. Yeah.. unfortunately (fortunately) it was the same taste of white coffee.. but the taste of the moment wasnt as sweet as i remembered it. There's no one around me that i know of. All those that shared the same Oldtown moment are all miles away from me. I miss them all. Seeing me sulking around the coffee, one of the waiter asked me "is there anything else, sir?". "Nah, it's okay. I'm good. Just remembering back good times" I replied. I thought the guy my be thinking "eeeeemooooooo" but regardless, he just said "Oh okay, take your time"

I said that to everyone I was with back in Oldtown, Malaysia. So, i smiled back and look at the reflection of myself in the windows. I used to said that to the company i'm having when i was in Oldtown back then, i thought. So, yeah, "take your time..."

Melbourne Ep.1: DIVERSION & THE MALAYSIAN FAMILY

2009-04-13T16:41:00.003+08:00

Delaqroux Inc. LIVE in MELBOURNE!!

Cower before me as I, Dark A. Delaqroux, have gone beyond the city of New South Wales and go South-er to the land of Melbourne!!!! BWahahaha!! And thus, making me the first cohort 5 guy to go THAT far in aussie. Thank you! Thank you! I love you all! What? There's some who've gone to Newcastle?.... Well, but not alone! I went there alone and as vigoriously as a vigorious lone wolf! Yes! All by myself!! Aaaaaalll by maaaaaaaiseeeeeeelf... Muahahahaha!! What? Risa? No, no risa. she gone to see that little game of La Crosse somewhere and so we went seperate ways. Yep, i admit that i told everyone i'll be going with Risa.. well, she's just a DIVERSION!! I am still kickass!!! MUAHAHAHAHAA!!!!

Okay, so let's begin. We.. i mean.. I (Big I)arrived at Southern Cross station at 7.00am and thus leaving me with absolutely nothing to do. I mean, seriously, everything in Aussie goes operational at 9am (and that's the earliest) so yep, i have 2 hours to spend. So i take little Risa for a walk around the place. But little that she know, all those walk around for a short hour before she took her train off to her LaCrosse game was ANOTHER DIVERSION!! So finally, when the short hand of the clock struck nine, i shoo-ed Risa to the game and lo and behold! MELBOURNE IS MAAAAAAAAAAIIIINNEEEE!!!! **another evil laugh**

So first stop was of course the Dockside. I managed to get this map of the city from the tourist info counter and the map have these little stars scattered all around showing the highlights of the city. So yep, remember dragon ball and that little blinky radar showing the positions of them balls? Well, that map and those little stars somewhat works the same way. And the nearest so far is the star on victoria harbour and hence, i go. But, somehow, upon a few minutes of walking around the area, there was no victoria harbour! The whole friggin area was still under construction!!! So what's that friggin star doing there in that map then?? And that it when i realized, it was A DIVERSION!!! Damn your black heart, o info counter lady!!! So off to the next star. Thankfully, that little diversion stalled enough time for all the shops in Harbour city to be opened and operational so there was plenty to see and shop around in Harbour City. Bargains are everywhere and shopping by the sea; nothing beats that! (Oh yeah, so info counter lady, the part where i screamt "diversion" miserably was actually A DIVERSION TOO!! Thanks to your 'diversion' i reap good benefit out of it. So who's miserable now huh? Who? Huh?) Anyways, i got a necklace, a lil bag for my lil sis, a CD for my dad and now to look for some stuff for mom. Hmm.. maybe i shouldnt be writing it down here coz she might be reading this. Or perhaps, i can still say what i bought for her but i will make her not realize it, by mentioning a whole lot of other stuff i bought as a DIVERSION!

So yeah, apart to wandering brainlessly.. i mean, courageously and ending up in the staff entrance to Cirque de Soleil (there was this circus on and all the staff wore black uniform. I thought they were guests so i trailed some of them and got myself into the staff entrance and office, perfectly blended in. But soon i realized some staff were looking at me as they start putting their name tags. THAT was when i realized they were all staff so i ran out. Wheeheehee...), i got myself a bagel and sat down to eat it. there were plenty of seats all around. I found one in the shade so i sat there and enjoy my coffee and bagel. That was when a family sat next to me. There were five of them so some of them were standing up. Well, i pretty much ignored their presence. i mean, of course you will right? And that is when i realized that the family who sat next to me, was speaking Malay!! They were saying something about me eating the doughnut. Yeah, bagel is shaped like a donut so no biggie. And that was when i heard them saying something to shoo me off. Something like "orang kat sebelah ni tak tau bila nak blah ke?" So i was like "what?" I didnt say this out loud though. I pretended not to hear anything (i was sitting down with my headphones after all). i Turned my eavesdropping mode on and i picked another line; "bagi la orang tua duduk kalau ye pun nak lantak donat dia tu" "entah" "orang cakap biasanya orang asia ni courteous. Yang orang rea-ko (Korea) ni kureng skit" "Duduk je la. Sendeng skit kat dia. kasi sempit, pandai2 la dia bangun nanti"

.............that was when i slammed down my bagel. Took my hot coffee and pour it and the woman next to me. The husband panicked and i dunno what the fuck he was saying but i dont give a shit. I dont speak malay, i speak sign language, and my kick to your balls means "I dont like you". That was when the crowd noticed the commotion. Some of them turned at me and said something. I yelled "DIAM" at them and continue kicking the husband on the floor. Yeah!! Say hello to my little friend, you sonnovabi.....

Of course, none of this happened. They were just a diversion off the real thing that happened. They were 'sendeng-ing' me off the seat afterwards and fuck yeah, i was all out pissed. Taking a big bite off my bagel, i was then realized the taste of warm, sweet melted butter covering the soft powdery sensation within the crispy outer crust off my baked bagel that i took the bite from. I took a small sip from my coffee and let the milky-sweetness, warm and calming coffee go down my throat; as the cool, chill ocean breeze swept accross me, with many gentle cold hands slipping through my hair as if a very gentle lady patting a child gently on the head for a very good deed he had done. Perhaps, the child was being polite all day. Or perhaps, the child helped the lady to do some chores without being told to. Or perhaps, the child held back his anger and refuse to get in a fight even when there's some other people talking bad behind him and trying to get him off his seat. If the latter is the case, the child had been good. A very good boy he had been, and that's why he's getting the sense of self contentment of the bagel he's having, the coffee he's sipping and the wind gently fanning him to a state of calmness and peace. And thus, the boy walked away, humming happily without getting angry to the people sitting next to him just now.

Nah, i wont make any comments about what happened. You do the judging. Anyways, there's no more stars around the dockside area and hence i move to the next stop; the city centre!! Wheee!!!

**TO BE CONTINUED**

Faery Tale Adventure 2

2009-04-09T22:08:00.003+08:00

Delaqroux Inc Review!

And when i said "review" this time, i mean, we're gonna review way, way, waaaay back in time... or to be specific, 1997. There wasnt much to be awed about gaming industry back then. Games are pretty much constructed on a very simple mechanism, mainly bashing everything that moves, repeatedly pressing an attack button and insane amount of red pixelated blobs which are supposed to be splatters of blood and flesh after a kill, supposedly representing realistic gaming violence and gore (*cough* Mortal Kombat *cough*). Gaming wasnt revolutionary. There was no such term as next gen. There were no kickass graphic or epic gameplay. Everything either narrows down to repetitive action, puzzle, insane button mashing, 'realistically' depicted fighting games or point-and-click system.

But then there was some company who tried to make a difference. Some succeeded but most died in the effort. The successful ones marked a big stepping stone in the gaming industry up until today such as blizzard with Diablo (RPG) and Warcraft (RTS), Eidos with Tomb Raider (Adventure) etc.. Those who have fallen; remain unheard through the ever flowing course of time, their glory unrecognized. Yet, there are few who heeded to their dying call. I was one of them. So, here, we're gonna give some tribute to those unsung heroes of the gaming industry.

So if i'm going to ask, "anyone here ever played The Faery tale Adventures 2?", i can be more than sure that the whole place will fall into a dead silence. Yeah, no one ever heard of it. But i tell you, that RPG game produced in 1997, was among the greatest RPG with the most epic storyline i have ever played.

As how Diablo allows you to control a single, fully customizable character, The Faery Tale Adventure 2 (TFTA2) allows to control THREE at the same time (you control one while the other two is controlled by the computer but you may switch control with the computer at any time). Of course, the AI controlling the two character isnt as smart and they tend to get stuck in corners at time but when things get rough, they do cover your back and they're freaking good at it too. Aside to that, the NPC number is phenomenal. The world is divided into around 10 continents or so with five of them human habited and the others are entirely controlled by demons and monsters. But the amount of NPC in every villages and towns are massive. And another highlight to that is that all the NPC are voiced! That's something rare for a game dating back as 1997 isnt it? The graphic consist of pixels but it is good enough for you to identify the character's gender and what's the character doing. The fighting system, however, is unique. While it may seem that you can mash your right mouse button over and over to attack an enemy, the battle system is actually turn-based, and strategy really kicks in at this point where you have to make a decision on whether to continue bashing the enemy, retreat, evade, cast a spell (which may take awhile to be casted but with devastating effect once casted successfully) defend the next oncoming attack, or protect your teammates. Not forgetting, deciding whether your two AI controlled character to either bash the same enemy unit, or provide u some cover from other oncoming enemies, so you can have a one on one duel with the enemy. For a game made in 1997, crappy sound system and in 2D graphics, how cool is that fighting system for you? The adventuring aspect of the game is pretty epic as well. There is the main missions, obviously, but most of those missions requires you to travel around the continent and trips' expenses are never sponsored. You have to earn your own keep. That is when you may choose to either take a heroic sidequest of slaying a cave full of goblins, help a damsel in distress (who turned out to be the mayor's daughter- earning you a free one-way trip if you helped her out) or even as simple of a job as picking apples in an orchard. Seriously, no kidding! You have all your rights to choose!

Oh.. and as a side note there; i worked as a burglar back then, killing travellers to get some easy money :p

So in all, i freakin enjoyed Faery Tale Adventure 2 as one of my earliest RPG game ever. The company went bankrupt after producing the game with such a high budget and expense. But to me, it sparked out my interest to explore deeper within the RPG world of gaming. Of course, one company went down the drain in the process of revolutionizing the RPG concept of gaming. But i grew to love RPG from them.